SINGAPORE - A 38-year-old man was sentenced to six months' jail on Friday, for his role in a conspiracy to cheat insurers of more than $40,000 in fraudulent claims.
Juraimi Raham pleaded guilty to deceiving Tokio Marine Insurance Singapore into believing he was the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident with three other vehicles along Sembawang Drive in July 2009 so he could claim for injuries and damage to his vehicle.
The court heard the alleged masterminds were 38-year-old Mohammad Eunos Zakaria, who is yet to be tried, and 37-year-old Mohamad Nassir Tohar, who died in 2012 in Malaysia.
The pair had recruited various people to be "phantom drivers", falsely reporting their involvement in the accident, or to pose as passengers to make fraudulent insurance claims for injuries.
Sometime in 2009, Juraimi had agreed for his car to be used in the staged accident, in return for free service for some bodywork on the vehicle.
The prosecution had asked for a sentence of seven months, highlighting how the accused had provided the vehicle in the staged accident.
District Judge Ng Peng Hong agreed a deterrent message had to be sent. Juraimi was the sixth of nine people allegedly involved in the scam to be convicted.
Five others were jailed between six and 18 weeks.
