Director of Contracting Firm Forges URA Approval Letters to Carry out Renovation Works; Jailed 7 Weeks

What happens when you do something, only to realise relevant regulations haven’t allowed you to do that thing?

Well, it sounds like a crime.

You know what else is a crime? Pretending that you are actually allowed to do said thing.

The “thing” in this case was a renovation plan for the balcony of a landed property within the Este Villa development near Seletar.

Lee Xiu Qi, director of Ah Qi Trading and Construction, carried out renovation works after obtaining permission from the estate management.

And then found out the approval had been withdrawn.

Oops. That landed him in trouble.

Following his cilent’s request, Lee then applied to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for approval of the renovations in April 2018, which he could then submit to the Este Villa management, according to TODAYonline.

He guaranteed success to his client, but URA quickly put a damper on that—he was told that, because the renovation works would alter the gross floor area of the unit, he would have to:

1. Engage a qualified engineer or architect
2. Obtain an approval letter from the estate management
3. Pay a hefty tax to the government when permission is granted to alter the land value of a property.

Whew, look at all the things he had to do. At this point, it sounds like a better idea to give up, or at least go through the bureaucratic hassle like a law-abiding citizen. I mean… as a contractor, it’s his job to deal with building regulations, after all.

However, Lee didn’t give up so easily—and to boot, he was also not a normie law-abiding citizen.

He chose, instead, to forge on (haha, get it?) and forge a letter from the URA, purporting that the agency had given its permission for the project.

The counterfeit letter, however, neglected to mention the wooden pillars that had been installed, and the management required another letter explicitly allowing their construction.

Which, of course, Lee forged. 

Come on, if you want to fake things… get it right the first time.

Either way, the lies were exposed in January 2019, when the management of Este Villa approached the URA and found out no approvals had been issued of any kind.

Lee was then forced to dismantle the renovation works, and refunded its cost in part.

But impersonating the government never ends well—after all, the last time someone said he was the Senate, he died a terrible death. 

Lee was charged in court and pleaded guilty to one count of forgery on Tuesday, and was sentenced to imprisonment for seven weeks.

This is a mitigation from the 10 weeks the prosecution asked for, who argued that Lee’s forgery of government documents “erode[d] the public’s confidence in [public] institutions”. 

In his defense, Lee’s lawyers claimed that he never meant to deceive the URA, but only meant to misguide his client and the property management. 

Umm… but that’s exactly what he did.

For forgery, Lee could have faced up to 10 years in jail or fined.

Feature Image: Google Maps