Jail for scam mastermind who cheated company director of 1.5m

Man who devised loan ruse to dupe victim into handing over sum gets 5-year sentence

- Shaffig Alkhatib

Under the pretence of facilitating a loan deal, a man who was a bankrupt duped a director of three firms into handing over $1.5 million in February 2021.

Singaporean Wong Poh Kun, who masterminded the ruse, then transferred $1.25 million to an unnamed third party in Malaysia, while his accomplice kept $250,000 for his personal use.

On May 6, Wong, 70, was sentenced to five years' jail after he pleaded guilty to a cheating charge in February.

A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority revealed that he used to be a director at multiple firms including Genesis-Alliance Projects, Ideal Worlds and LP World Gourmet.

As at February, he has made no restitution to the 48-year-old victim, who was a director at Abiel Real Estate Fund VCC, Abiel Holdings and Abiel Spaceplus Aljunied at the time of the offence.

Court documents referred to them as the "Abiel companies".

Wong had met the victim through his accomplice, Vincent Jason Sadok Fook Tai.

At the time, Tai was a director at two firms AEC Development, which was purportedly in the consultancy business for funding and financing projects, and another firm known as Asia Alternative Fund (AAF).