$5k fine for woman who lied to officer amid probe involving Tiong Bahru Football Club
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Malaysian Kaw Lai Fong committed the offence after the senior legal counsel of SportSG lodged a report alleging various irregularities involving the financial affairs of FAS.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
SINGAPORE – A woman was the general manager of Tiong Bahru Football Club (TBFC) when she repeatedly lied to an officer from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
Malaysian Kaw Lai Fong committed the offence after the senior legal counsel of Sport Singapore (SportSG) lodged a report alleging various irregularities involving the financial affairs of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).
Without revealing details, the prosecution said the scope of the matters included financial dealings between FAS and TBFC.
On Feb 25, Kaw, 53, was fined $5,000 after she pleaded guilty to one count of giving false information to a public servant.
She was one of four people who were earlier charged
One of them, Lau Chee Yoong, then 34, was fined $20,000 in 2023
Lau, also a Malaysian, was working for an accounting and auditing services firm when he forged his then boss’ signature on an independent auditor’s report for Woodlands Wellington Football Club.
The cases involving Singaporeans Sng Kian Peng, 46, and Gary Tan Eng Chin, 49, are still pending.
In the current case, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gavin Ezra Goh told the court that as TBFC’s general manager, Kaw’s tasks included checking and updating its financial records.
According to court documents, SportSG’s senior legal counsel lodged the report shortly before 8pm on April 19, 2017.
The next day, CAD officers raided Kaw’s home, but she was out at the time.
At around 4pm, one of them called Kaw’s work mobile phone and told her to come home.
Kaw then handed the work phone to a colleague and did as she was told.
She later handed her personal mobile phone to the CAD officer but made no mention about her work phone.
At around 4.40pm, the female officer realised that the number she had earlier dialled was not linked to Kaw’s personal phone.
The officer and her colleague asked Kaw if she owned any other mobile phones.
Kaw then lied to the pair, saying that she owned only her personal phone.
She also falsely claimed the number the officer had earlier dialled was linked to a mobile phone belonging to a non-existent colleague known as “Serin”.
The officer later asked Kaw for the location of Serin’s mobile phone.
Kaw then called a colleague, asking the latter to lie for her by confirming that the work phone belonged to Serin.
At around 5pm, the officer asked Kaw’s domestic helper about her employeer’s mobile phone number. The helper then replied that the work phone belonged to Kaw.
DPP Goh said: “When (the officer) again asked the accused for the location of the work phone, the accused continued to lie. This time, she falsely claimed that she had thrown the (device) away.”
After further questioning, Kaw finally came clean and admitted that Serin did not exist.
She also admitted that the work phone was with one of her colleagues.
CAD officer later retrieved the device and Kaw was arrested on April 21, 2017.
