Education Centre Principal Who Helped Others Cheat In O-Level Has Fled S’pore

Escaping from the police is rarely seen in Singapore.

But when we do see someone on the lam, we can’t help but be interested.

Interpol’s Red Notice

Like something out of a Netflix series, ex-tuition center principal Poh Yuan Nie is evading the clutches of the police for her masterful crime. 

On 23 November 2022, Poh failed to turn up in court to begin her jail term, and officials issued a warrant of arrest. However, the cat and mouse game still didn’t see Poh being put in jail, and now, the police are seeing red. 

According to the authorities, the application for an Interpol red notice against the former principal of an education centre is underway. 

Netflix’s Red Notice sequel starring Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds, The Rock, and the Bishop Poh Yuan Nie 

If you didn’t get that reference, don’t worry. 

Essentially, the Interpol red notice requests law enforcement units worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or other legal action. 

Essentially, if you’re put under red notice, you’re screwed. 

Poh’s Cheating Scandal

Wait, how did she land herself in this mess in the first place?

Long story short, the 56-year-old cheated in the O-levels. 

No, she didn’t take the test herself. After all, she’s 40 years older than all the other candidates.

In 2016, the mastermind devised a plan to help her students cheat in the exam. 

Tutor by day, cheater by day as well. 

Along with her niece and tutor, 35-year-old Fiona Poh Min, and another tutor, 34-year-old Tan Jia Yan, she “took” the exam for the students. 

Before each exam, they’d tape communication devices to the students. Then, the candidates would waltz into the exam hall, clothes concealing the devices, and sail smoothly through the exam. 

Beforehand, Tan would sit the exams as a private candidate and use the FaceTime application on her phone to live stream the questions to the tuition centre. 

Then, the accomplices would work on the questions they had received and craft an answer sheet. 

On the day of the deed, they’d read out the answers to the students, and so marks the end of the process. 

Overseeing her minions was Poh Yuan Nie, who Mr Dong Xin, a Chinese national, paid $8,000 per student that she helped.

Actually, the money was being paid for her to tutor them and help them get into local polytechnics, but the principal had shortcuts she wanted to take. 

For three papers from 19 to 21 October in 2016, their plan succeeded. The supply chain was smooth and off the invigilators’ radar, but the train slowly derailed. 

On 24 October 2016, a sharp-eared invigilator picked up on the muffled sounds of electronic transmission and voices from one of the students. 

The student was then brought to an office where he had to declare the gadgets used in the operation: Bluetooth receivers and an earpiece. 

It was there that he ratted out his tutors and came clean about the whole ruse, commencing the police investigation. 

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Aftermath 

In 2021, Pony (Poh Yuan Nie’s alias) and her niece were each convicted of 27 charges of engaging in a conspiracy to cheat. 

The former was sentenced to four years in jail and the latter to three.  

Unhappy with the outcome, the pair took the case to the Court of Appeal in a procedure known as a criminal reference. They sought to have the apex court determine a question of law of public interest. 

In court, they challenged the meaning of the word “dishonest” in the phrase “dishonest concealment of facts.” They argued that the word’s meaning had to be determined without referencing the definition of “dishonestly” under Section 24 of the Penal Code. 

Essentially, nitpick on terms la. 

According to the Penal Code, a person acts dishonestly if he or she does it with the intention of causing a wrongful gain or loss to another person. 

Further, they argued for the term to be viewed in the ordinary sense rather than the unique sense given to it by the code. 

Even with this argument, their appeal got rejected, and they still had to serve a sentence. 

Little did the police know that Pony was an eel.

While the crime boss slipped away, her henchmen didn’t. 

The remaining member of the three musketeers, Tan Jia Yan, was sentenced to three years in jail in 2019 over her role in the operation. 

In other words, Poh’s the only one not in a cell.

After she didn’t turn up in court to begin her sentence, her lawyer, Peter Fernando, told The Straits Times: “I don’t know where she is now.”

It was also noted that the lawyer had discharged himself from representing her following a pre-trial conference on 23 November 2022. 

Penalty

For conspiracy to cheat, one could be fined and/or imprisoned for up to three years. 

For not turning up to court, you would, like Poh, be issued a warrant of arrest. 

Singapore is a small place. There’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Moral of the story: If you want to break the rules, be prepared to face the music. 

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Featured Image: The Straits Times