Director at charity allegedly worked with man to extort and cheat
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Benjie Ng Ser Kwei and Jovel Lim Yi’an were each charged with three counts of extortion and one count of cheating on May 29.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
SINGAPORE – A director at a charity allegedly engaged in a conspiracy with a man to commit cheating and multiple counts of extortion.
Benjie Ng Ser Kwei, 71, is the owner of The Golden Tree Foundation as well as a director and shareholder at Soon Thian Keing (Tua Konsi), according to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.
Ng and Jovel Lim Yi’an, 39, were each charged with three counts of extortion and one count of cheating on May 29.
The Golden Tree Foundation deals with philanthropic trusts, while Soon Thian Keing (Tua Konsi) is linked to the Soon Thian Kheng temple in Geylang.
No information was available on Lim.
They are accused of working together on Feb 10, 2025, to try to cheat a man by falsely claiming to be from the “PAP public policy forum”.
Ng and Lim allegedly did so in an attempt to induce him to make a donation. The amount involved was not stated in court documents.
They are also said to have worked together to commit extortion in February 2025 involving three people – a woman and two other men.
Ng and Lim purportedly tried to put the trio “in fear of injury to (their) reputation” by informing them that they would be “investigated” if they did not make a financial contribution.
The alleged amount was at least $10,000 in the woman’s case and $50,000 in the case involving one of the men.
Court documents did not disclose any monetary amount in the case allegedly involving the other man.
The documents also did not state which organisations Ng and Lim were representing at the time of their alleged offences.
Their cases have been adjourned to June 26.
For each count of extortion, an offender can be jailed for between two and five years, and caned. Ng, however, cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old.
