SINGAPORE - A 37-year-old man was charged on Friday with 33 counts of car insurance fraud.
Rahmat Mohd is accused of scheming with several others, including car workshop boss Sollihin Anhar, to cheat insurance companies by making claims on car accidents that never happened.
The phantom accidents were staged between May 2011 and July 2013. Through them, Rahmat allegedly defrauded the companies of more than $445,000.
Rahmat, Sollihin and various conspirators would allegedly lodge accident statements with insurance companies such as Liberty, AXA and Tokio Marine, to cheat them into processing personal injury and property damage claims.
Sollihin, who has yet to be dealt with, currently faces 81 charges for his part in the scams.
In one of his charges, Rahmat is said to have obtained a medical certificate from Alexandra Hospital in February 2012 , claiming that he suffered from knee and lower back pain from being in a West Coast Highway car accident.
Through law firm Relianze Law Corporation, he allegedly used this document to deceive AXA into processing a personal injury claim of $52,000.
In another charge from August 2012, he allegedly drove a co-conspirator's car into the rear of another car and then reversed it into the front of a lorry, so that his accomplice could claim that he had been involved in a three-vehicle accident while driving along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5.
In all, he is accused of having worked with more than 20 other people to fake accident injuries or vehicular damage in order to make insurance claims.
For each count of cheating, Rahmat could face a jail term of up to 10 years as well as a fine.
He is next due to appear in court on Aug 28.
