SPF Officer Helped a Person Whom He Recognized as a Livestreamer by Tampering with Evidence

When you’re convicted of a crime that you’re guilty of, there are a couple of things you can do:

1. Accept the charges and punishment
2. Accept the charges and punishment

Yes, there’s really only one option here.

Two years ago, however, one lawbreaker went with secret option number 3, which was a little different:

3. Blame the crime on a dead person

Fortunately for him, he had the help of a police officer.

SPF Officer Helped Lawbreaker Whom He Recognized as a Livestreamer

This tale involves two men from very different professions.

Quak Tiong Beng, 42, is a police officer who has been with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) since 1999.

The other man, 32-year-old Casper Ang, is a funeral director at Singapore Bereavement Services.

Quak recognised Ang one day in 2017 at the holding area of the Police Cantonment Complex lock-up because he had been following Ang on the livestreaming app BIGO.

Quak asked him if he was the user he had been following and Ang acknowledged this.

Two years later, Ang was arrested for his suspected involvement in computer crimes and other offences.

These crimes involved 116 transactions worth S$356,600, and an attempted 338 fraudulent transactions worth about S$1.4 million.

Ang was interviewed by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in relation to the offences and he lied that one of his accomplices was a person named “Boon Hien”, who had committed suicide in 2018.

This way, the CAD wouldn’t be able to verify whether the deceased really was involved.

Could You Do Me a Favour & Break the Law?

At the time of the offences, Quak was deployed as a Person-In-Custody officer. His job entailed managing the regional lock-up at Police Cantonment Complex and handling the keys to the cells and the premises’ physical security.

When he recognised Ang again in 2019 after he was arrested, Ang provided details about his case and two days later, asked for some help.

He wanted Quak to call a witness in his case to pass a message to them. The message went something like this:

If an investigating officer shows you a photo, you should say you have seen the person before, but you cannot confirm who the person is. 

Quak was not allowed to make phone calls in the lock-up, but he went to an area in the lock-up where CCTV cameras would not capture him, and made the call.

Officer Heard Quak Break the Law on Speaker Phone

Unbeknownst to Quak, he passed the message when the witness was being interviewed by the CAD over Ang’s crimes.

So, when Quak called, the witness picked up the phone in front of the CAD officer and put it on speaker mode.

And just like that, their entire charade crumbled.

Five Months’ Jail

Yesterday (8 June), the 42-year-old officer was given five months’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of aiding Ang to intentionally pervert the course of justice.

He has also been suspended from the SPF since 13 May 2019.

SPF said that it has commenced “internal action” against Quak following his conviction, adding that officers who break the law will be dealt with severely.

But I guess we all have the same question now: Why does Quak help Ang?

Featured Image: Donal Keane / Shutterstock.com