Police investigating report that Lin Yisheng failed to hand over money from celebrity soccer match
By
Theresa Tan & Teh Joo Lin
Mr Lin photographed at his Celebrities Resort Club in Thomson. He made the news last year when he was said to owe the club's employees about $30,000 in unpaid wages. A Celebrity Holdings shareholder said the club has been shut since last February. -- ST FILE PHOTO
THE police are investigating a report lodged by a businessman against former television actor Lin Yisheng, which alleges that he failed to pass on $120,000 which he had raised for a charity.
Mr Lin, 43, organised a celebrity soccer game in July 2007 to raise funds for the Metta Welfare Association.
He is now uncontactable, even to his friends and a shareholder in his company, Celebrities Holdings.
The report was made by a 40-year-old businessman who did not want to be named.
He alleged that Mr Lin had promised the $120,000 to the charity for over a year, but has not delivered.
The celebrity charity soccer match featured Hong Kong celebrities such as comedian Eric Tsang, singer Alan Tam and local Channel 8 actors such as Chen Tianwen and Mr Lin.
The match raised about $138,000. After deducting expenses, some $120,000 was supposed to go to Metta, the businessman told Chinese newspapers here.
He said that Mr Lin promised that he would hand a cheque to the charity after the soccer match, but when he checked last February, he discovered that the money had not been handed over.
The former actor then agreed to honour his promise within four months, but this did not happen.
Since then, the businessman - a donor who helped raise the money - has apparently been trying to contact Mr Lin. He finally succeeded in setting up a meeting over the phone, to take place on New Year's Eve. But Mr Lin missed the appointment, he claimed.
The businessman informed the police about the situation two days later.
When contacted, the police would only confirm that a report was made and they were investigating. It is not clear if they had managed to contact Mr Lin.
Metta, which runs a school and a home for the disabled among other services, told The Straits Times that it was not involved in organising the charity soccer match.
The charity was just named as a beneficiary of the event.
Metta's spokesman declined to comment further as police investigations were ongoing.
The Straits Times' efforts to contact Mr Lin in the past two days have been unsuccessful.
Celebrities Holdings, a company set up by Mr Lin, turned out to have no office of its own. It used the address of a firm which provides secretarial services as its listed address.
The firm's staff said they had been unable to reach Mr Lin for the past six months.
'I am looking for him too. His mobile number is not in use and we can't reach him too,' said Celebrities Holdings shareholder Kwong Pah Yong.
Mr Lin first hit the headlines last year, when a club he set up, the Celebrities Resort Club in Thomson, was said to owe its staff about $30,000 in wages.
It is unclear whether the employees have received their wages as Mr Kwong said the club has been shut since February last year.
Before Mr Lin became a businessman, he featured in many drama serials on Channel 8, mainly in supporting roles. The shows included a 20-parter called Coffee Or Tea in 1995, which showcased the lives of heartlanders.
