Man who helped foreigner buy restricted houses in East Coast gets 2 more years’ jail

A Singaporean man who helped a foreigner purchase three houses in East Coast Road will have to serve two more years in jail, after the High Court allowed an appeal by the prosecution to increase his sentence on a perjury charge.

Tan Hui Meng, 57, had initially been handed a jail term of two years, three months and three weeks, as well as a $3,000 fine, when he was sentenced by a district judge in March.

He was convicted of eight charges relating to the purchase of the properties on behalf of China national Zhan Guotuan, who provided more than $6 million to buy the three terrace houses.

The three landed properties – identified in court documents as J1, M1 and P1 – are not “non-restricted residential property”, which means foreigners may not buy them.

The houses were purchased between 2007 and 2008.

Tan bought P1 in his own name, aided another Singaporean, Ms Guan Aimei, to purchase J1, and arranged for M1 to be acquired by a firm named Hwampoa, which was set up for this purpose.

Mr Zhan has been fined $45,000 for authorising Hwampoa to purchase M1 to hold it in trust for him, while Ms Guan has been fined $5,000 for her part.

Tan was given three months’ jail for each of the three charges under the Residential Property Act for the purchase of the properties.

He was also sentenced for other charges relating to events that arose in the aftermath of the purchases.

This included two years’ jail for giving false evidence in a civil suit that he filed against Ms Guan in 2013.

On Nov 8, the prosecution appealed for a longer jail term to be meted out for this perjury charge, with Deputy Public Prosecutor Gordon Oh arguing that the original term was manifestly inadequate. He pressed for a jail sentence of three to four years.

The events leading to the civil suit began when Tan arranged for all three houses to be returned to Mr Zhan.

This included orchestrating money flows to make it look as if J1 and P1 were being sold to Mr Zhan’s nephew and son respectively.

In truth, Tan was “round-tripping” monies from Mr Zhan’s companies.

He used these monies to pay Ms Guan $2.3 million for the “sale” of J1.

He then told Ms Guan and her husband to use the funds from the companies to pay for the “sale” of P1 at the price of $3 million. Ms Guan’s husband, Mr Guan Wenhai, was Mr Zhan’s employee.

After receiving $3 million from the couple, Tan made out three cheques to Mr Guan, so the money could be given back to Mr Zhan’s companies.

The final cheque for $2.85 million bounced as there were insufficient funds in his bank account. Tan said he had spent the monies on his own investments.

This resulted in Mr Guan suing Tan over the dishonoured cheque.

In retaliation, Tan sued Ms Guan. He alleged that he was the beneficial owner of J1 and claimed $2.3 million from her for its purported sale.

Tan’s suit was dismissed by then Judicial Commissioner Edmund Leow, who referred the matter to the authorities as “various offences may have been committed”.

On Nov 8, DPP Oh argued that Tan had presented a series of “carefully interwoven lies” in his affidavit to support his false claim that Ms Guan was holding the house in trust for him.

Among other things, Tan gave a false account of how he asked Ms Guan to be his trustee, and gave misleading explanations for certain documents that he submitted as evidence.

Justice Kannan Ramesh agreed that the original sentence for this charge had failed to take into account the relevant aggravating factors and sentencing precedents.

He said it was “just and proportionate” for Tan to be given a jail term of four years on the perjury charge.

This meant the total sentence was increased to a jail term of four years, three months and three weeks, with a fine of $3,000.

Tan had also appealed against his conviction. His lawyer, Mr Kalidass Murugaiyan, argued that the properties had been purchased for himself.

Justice Ramesh dismissed Tan’s appeal, saying that the evidence “plainly demonstrates that the three properties were purchased for and on Mr Zhan’s behalf”.

The judge allowed Tan to start serving his jail term on Jan 27, 2025.

Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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