SINGAPORE - A food and beverage manager pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday (March 28) to taking part in an illegal race, driving at a speed that was dangerous to the public and driving without an insurance.
During the illegal race along Seletar Link towards Seletar North Link at 12.16am on May 9, 2015, Koo Kwok En, now 37, drove his wife's Nissan GTR at 219kmh.
This is more than triple the 60kmh speed limit for vehicles along that road.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan Zhongshan said Koo raced against Kevin Pratama Chandra, 24, who was then driving an orange Lamborghini.
Staff Sergeant Pardeep Dass from the Traffic Police and other officers were conducting an operation to detect illegal racing activities along Seletar Link at around 11.30pm on May 8, 2015 when they spotted about 20 high-performance cars entering the area.
Koo and Kevin were among the drivers who parked their cars along the left side of the three-lane road.
DPP Tan said Koo had earlier asked Kevin for a race and the younger man agreed.
The two men positioned their vehicles near a lamp post facing Seletar North Link.
The court heard the GTR was in the extreme right lane while the Lamborghini was in the middle lane.
DPP Tan added: "Kevin said 'OK ready' and Koo replied 'OK'. This was the signal for the start of the race. Both vehicles then started moving forward and accelerated rapidly when they passed (the lamp post).
"Kevin and Koo were driving at very high speeds and competing to see whose car was faster." The finish point was near another lamp post about 800m away.
When they got there, the two men made an unauthorised U-turn and had another race down the same road about four minutes later.
The officers deployed there later stopped them for dangerous driving.
DPP Tan said the police have seized both cars.
He added that investigations later revealed Koo, who was represented by lawyer Raymond Lye, was not an insured driver of the GTR.
Koo is now out on a $5,000 bail and will be back in court on April 13.
The pre-trial conference for Kevin's case will be held on April 19.
For taking part in the illegal race, Koo can be jailed up to six months and fined between $1,000 and $2,000.
And for driving at a speed that was dangerous to the public, he can be jailed up to a year and fined up to $3,000.
