Tan Hwee Ngo, a dishwasher and an avid gambler, convinced her friend, Tan Soy Kiang, who has mild intelletual disability, to withdraw his entire CPF savings of more than $53,000 in 1999.
She also asked him to give her $500 of his salary every month for 13 years, from 2000 to 2013; even though he only earned between $700 and $1,300 monthly.
She claimed that the money was for Singapore’s founding father, the late prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.
Tan Soy Kiang, now 76, was intelletually disabled, hence he believed her lies and did as he was told.
Tan Hwee Ngo, now 71, had cheated Mr Tan of at least S$130,000 in total.
She was found guilty of 169 charges of cheating by District Judge Terence Tay on Monday (August 31) and sentenced to two years and three months of jail-time.
Mr Tan worked as a petrol pump attendant from 1992; he also worked two jobs for a period of time, as a cleaner/factory worker on top of his job at the petrol station.
Both the accused and victim had a mutual friend, former cleaner Boo Sok Hiang, 71, otherwise known as Ah Hiang.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiam Jia Min said in her submissions that Mr Tan and Ah Hiang were friends for almost 3 decades, they met while watching teochew operas.
She later introduced Mr Tan to Hwee Ngo.
Hwee Ngo later claimed that she needed the money for Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Tan then subsequently visited a CPF service centre, filling up an application form to withdraw his entire CPF savings; more than $53,000 was credited into his bank account the subsequent month.
DPP Thiam said: “Mr Tan sought Ah Hiang’s assistance to withdraw the CPF monies from his… bank account and pass them to the accused. Consequently, Mr Tan entrusted Ah Hiang with his ATM card and personal identification number to make the withdrawals. Mr Tan had enlisted Ah Hiang’s help as he was busy with work and had no time to make the withdrawals.”
Ah Hiang then told Mr Tan that she withdrew the money and passed it to Hwee Ngo.
Mr Tan confirmed that to date, he never got back any of they CPF monies that he withdrew in 1999.
Hwee Ngo also used similar lies to convince Mr Tan to give her $500 of his salary monthly.
Mr Tan moved in with his niece Pamela Lim and her husband back in 2013, the couple noticed that Mr Tan would borrow money from them and Lim’s mother almost every week, which they found strange because he had an income from his jobs and didn’t have much expenses.
Lim then found out from her mother than Mr Tan had withdrawn the entirety of his CPF monies and the entire sum was gone.
Lim and her husband then checked with Mr Tan, who told them that the accused and Ah Hiang told him something about a failed business investment involving Yeo Hiap Seng, which was taken over by the government. And now he needed to make repayments to “Lao Lee” (Mr Lee Kuan Yew).
A police report was then lodged on February 3, 2014.
Tan Hwee Ngo tried to shift the blame to Ah Hiang, who had died of heart disease in 2016, before the trial started.
DPP Thiam highlighted that in an earlier police statement, Hwee Ngo had admitted to cheating Mr Tan, saying that she needed the money to gamble.
Hwee Ngo’s bail has been set at $20,000, and the court heard that she will be appealing against her conviction.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.