SINGAPORE: A man agreed to help a friend he met in prison devise a plan to get a former director embroiled in a high-profile fraud case out of Singapore for S$5 million (US$3.8 million).
To get the plan underway, Shawn Liew Cheng Long asked for a 10 per cent deposit.
However, the plan did not come to fruition as he and his accomplice Ang Yew Teck never received the sum.
Liew, a 37-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to three years and 10 months’ jail on Thursday (Dec 28) for a mix of charges including conspiring to obstruct the course of justice, drug consumption and injuring a police officer.
Another six charges were considered in sentencing.
The case involves the former director of Envy Global Trading and Envy Asset Management Ng Yu Zhi, who was charged in March 2021 for offences linked to nickel investment fraud.
The number of charges increased to 31 in August 2021 and covered a range of offences such as cheating and criminal breach of trust by a director, involving a sum of more than S$365 million at the time.
Around July 2021, while Ng was remanded in Changi Prison, he met co-accused Ang, a 50-year-old Singaporean man.
Ang in turn knew Liew from when they were in prison together in 2019 or 2020. Ang had been convicted over contraband cigarettes. When they were released, Liew introduced Ang to his boss, a purported Malaysian man named Xiao Li who dabbled in contraband cigarette smuggling.
THE MEETINGS
After Ng was released from remand after posting bail and Ang also exited prison, the pair met.
During the meeting, Ang told Ng that he would try to find out how Ng could leave Singapore illegally, as well as the cost.
Around August 2021, Ang contacted Liew, asking about ways for Ng to leave Singapore illegally. Ang told Liew that Ng was involved in “one of the largest cheating or CBT case in Singapore”.
In response, Liew said that Xiao Li may know how to get Ng out of the country. Liew asked Xiao Li about the cost before meeting Ng and Ang in another meeting around October 2021 in Leedon Park.
At the meeting, Liew told Ng that he would require S$5 million to arrange for Ng to leave Singapore illegally and that he needed a 10 per cent deposit.
Together, Liew and Ang told Ng that he could only leave by car and not by boat, and that the details would be crystallised only after he paid the 10 per cent deposit.
Liew offered a secure communication device to Ng for S$50,000, but Ng rejected this offer.
After the Leedon Park meeting, Ang contacted Ng multiple times to ask about the deposit. But Ng never made payment, so the plan did not materialise.
Ng’s case is pending, with more than 100 charges levelled against him.
Liew also admitted to consuming methamphetamine and being violent against the police after being arrested for a drunken altercation with a man in Punggol.
Liew has previous convictions for voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty and voluntarily causing hurt.
The prosecutor sought a jail term of between three years and 10 months and four years for Liew.
MITIGATION
Defence lawyer S S Dhillon asked for the lower end of that range – three years and 10 months.
He said Liew was at home drinking alcohol when Ang asked him about how Ng could leave Singapore illegally.
A divorcee, Liew was a delivery driver with Lalamove before he was arrested, said Mr Dhillon.
He added that Liew has reflected on his misdeeds while remanded and is not more determined than ever to be a reformed person, particularly missing his three children.
“Shawn realises that it is his drinking addiction that has led him to the path of destruction,” said Mr Dhillon, adding that his client was prepared to undergo counselling for the sake of his kids.
The lawyer said Liew was “motivated by greed” when he agreed to help Ng leave Singapore, but the plan was not executed and Liew did not gain any monetary benefit.
In sentencing, the judge told Liew that he had “quite a poor record” for committing the same kind of offence.
He said he was giving Liew a second chance in a shorter imprisonment sentence on account of the mitigation put forward by his lawyer.
“Please use the chance which has been given to you while you are serving your custody to examine again exactly where you have gone wrong,” said District Judge Eugene Teo.
“Make sure you keep the correct company upon your release and don’t come back again.”
Ang was sentenced to jail in August 2022 for his role in the plot to help Ng flee.
CNA reported in February that Ng was remanded as he could not raise the increased bail of S$6 million sought by the prosecution.