ST : Cashback scam: Agent's jail term cut to two weeks

Nov 20, 2010

Cashback scam: Agent's jail term cut to two weeks

A PROPERTY agent convicted of taking part in a cashback scam had his one-month jail sentence reduced to two weeks and a $1,000 fine yesterday.

Francis Clinton Wong Chee Meng, 39, was acting for a flat seller when former agent Nick Goh Chong Liang approached him and convinced him to take part in the plot.

When police started investigating, Goh - who was running the scam with two others, including fugitive lawyer David Rasif - told Wong not to implicate him, and threatened to take revenge on him if he did.

Wong then lied to the police, saying the buyer's agent had suggested the scam. He was sentenced in June to two weeks in jail for cheating and one month for giving police false information. The two terms were concurrent.

He appealed, and the High Court yesterday reduced his sentence for giving false information to a $1,000 fine. His appeal against the sentence for cheating was dismissed.

In cutting Wong's sentence, Justice Steven Chong noted the threats he had received from Goh in 2005. Wong had no other probable motivation for lying to the police, he said.

Goh, 37, hatched the cashback scam in 2003 with Rasif - who is still on the run after siphoning off $11 million of his clients' money - and fellow lawyer David Tan Hock Boon, 40.

It involved convincing flat sellers to declare an inflated amount above the actual agreed purchase price. The banks would then be deceived into issuing higher mortgage loans to the buyers.

Wong was accused of cheating Standard Chartered Bank into believing that the purchase price of a Yishun flat was $250,000 when it was actually $203,000. This resulted in the bank giving a $187,500 loan to the buyer.

Wong then convinced the seller to transfer the $47,000 'cashback' - the difference between the real price and the inflated one - to a shell company set up by Goh, saying it was a requirement by the buyer.

Goh was jailed for five years and five months in 2007.

Tan was jailed for five years in 2008.

SELINA LUM