THE last accomplice in Singapore's first illegal organ transplant case was found guilty and convicted on Tuesday.

Whang Sung Lin, 45, will be sentenced on Friday for instigating his friend, Wang Chin Sing, 44, and retail magnate Tang Wee Sung, 56, to enter into the arrangement for the illegal human organ transaction last year.

The 45-year-old businessman could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed for up to a year.

His lawyer Subhas Anandan maintained that Whang had abetted in the illegal transaction of a human organ but not to the extent of instigating the parties involved. Whang also did not profit from it, the lawyer told the court on Monday.

Mr Anandan said that the matter only went to trial because the prosecution insisted on using the words 'instigation' and 'for a fee' in the charge.

'This is unfair and cannot be substantiated,' he argued in an attempt to reduce Whang's culpability so as to merit a less severe sentence. But District Judge Sarjit Singh disagreed, saying that the prosecution had proved the charge as it stands.

During the week-long trial in May, Whang admitted asking Mr Tang, who urgently needed a kidney transplant, to call Wang, a medical concierge.

But he denied suggesting to Wang to charge Mr Tang $300,000 for the kidney. Although Whang did receive two $10,000 cash cheques from Wang, he said these were loans.

This was not so, testified Wang, who said the money was an advance of the estimated $200,000 they would share from Mr Tang's fee. Whang was the fifth person to have been dealt with in connection with the case.

Mr Tang, 56, was jailed for a day and fined a total of $17,000. Wang was jailed for 14 months last November after his appeal against the sentence was dismissed.

Two Indonesians had also been jailed and fined for their role.