SINGAPORE - A man was hauled to a district court on Tuesday after he allegedly used the name of a fugitive lawyer to dupe two insurance companies into disbursing nearly $77,000 in settlement sums linked to two foreign workers’ injury claims.
Saha Ranjit Chandra, 48, allegedly deceived the companies into believing that they were negotiating with an authorised person from Whitefield Law Corp under the Legal Profession Act, the police said in a statement.
The Indian national, who is a director at multiple firms, including Ranjit Investment Holdings and RS Global Immigration Consultancy, is said to have corresponded with the insurers in 2020 and 2021 in the name of lawyer Charles Yeo Yao Hui.
Yeo was a director of Whitefield Law Corp at the time, according to court documents.
Since 2022, he has been on the run from the law.
The former chairman of the Reform Party was charged in 2022 with offences including harassment and wounding the religious feelings of Christians.
Yeo had a warrant of arrest issued against him in August 2022 after he absconded with criminal charges pending against him.
A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) reveals that Yeo is no longer a shareholder and director at Whitefield Law Corp.
However, he is a director and shareholder of Charles Yeo Law Practice.
According to Acra, Saha used to be a director and shareholder at Charles Yeo Law Practice, holding these positions until 2020.
Saha was handed five charges on Tuesday, including two counts of cheating.
He is accused of cheating Great Eastern Life Assurance between July 29 and Nov 30, 2020, by using Yeo’s name to negotiate for the workplace injury claim of a foreign worker named Manbir Singh.
After that, Great Eastern Life Assurance allegedly released the worker’s settlement sum of $35,000 to Whitefield Law Corp.
Saha is accused of cheating China Taiping Insurance (Singapore), also by using Yeo’s name, between Jan 5 and Feb 22, 2021.
The insurer released a settlement sum of nearly $42,000 over the workplace injury claim of one Sikder Md Shalim.
From this amount, nearly $32,600 was allegedly released to Whitefield Law Corp, while more than $9,200 was said to be released to a company called Joseph Chen & Co.
Separately, Saha is also accused of giving false information to a public servant, the Registrar of Regulated Dealers of the Ministry of Law, on Jan 15, 2022.
He allegedly failed to declare in his application for a precious stones and precious metals dealer licence on behalf of a company called Royal Jewellery that he was then under investigation in Singapore.
Details about the investigations were not disclosed in court documents, which stated only that Saha was legally bound to make such a declaration.
His case has been adjourned to Oct 3.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
