SINGAPORE - A man told an elderly woman, who was sentenced to six weeks' jail in 2018 over offences including those linked to her Ferrari, that he had contacts who could help ensure her life behind bars would be easier.

The woman, Shi Ka Yee, then 73, fell for Francis Ng Wee Keng's untruths and gave him $2,000 in cash on Oct 19 that year before she started serving her sentence six days later.

On Oct 28, 2018, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) found out about what Ng had done, and he pleaded guilty in a district court last week.

He is expected to be sentenced on Jan 18.

The 48-year-old Singaporean admitted to six charges, including graft and house trespass to commit theft.

Court documents do not state if Shi, a retired interior designer, has been dealt with in court over this graft case.

She made the headlines earlier for committing a string of offences including punching a motorist after he refused to let her Ferrari pass in 2014.

The following year, she trapped a worker in the bucket of a crane.

In 2016, she stopped her car in the middle of Orchard Road, causing a jam after another motorist sounded his horn at her.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang said: "Her case was widely published by the local newspapers and (Ng) read about her offences and the criminal proceedings against her when he was serving his sentence in prison some time in the middle of 2018."

He was later released from prison and contacted Shi in early October 2018.

They met in a hotel and he told her that he knew some prison officers who could "look out" for her when she served her sentence.

The prosecutor added: "The truth was that the accused did not know any prison officer personally who could help Shi. The accused and Shi then exchanged contact numbers.

"(Between Oct 8 and 17, 2018), the accused updated Shi about the favours he had done for her, such as calling and speaking to the Commissioner of Prison about her case and arranging for Shi to meet up with two senior female prison officers, which he admitted to the CPIB were lies."

Later that month, Ng sent Shi messages via WhatsApp to ask for cash so that he could "entertain prison officers in order to build rapport with them".

He claimed that he could tell them to help ensure her life behind bars would be "easier", that she could keep her hair long and that she would not get bullied by other inmates.

The court heard that she passed him $2,000 on Oct 19, 2018, and he used the money for personal expenses. She started serving her sentence on Oct 25 that year.

In an unrelated case, Ng entered a man's home in Jalan Sultan near Beach Road in December 2019 and made off with $650 in cash.

A closed-circuit television camera caught him getting into the unit and the victim alerted the police.

Officers raided Ng's home on Jan 3, 2020, and he was found to be in possession of items including multiple pieces of jewellery.

The prosecutor said these were "reasonably suspected" of being stolen and he "failed to account satisfactorily" how he got hold of them.

For graft, an offender can be jailed up to five years and fined up to $100,000.

For house trespass to commit theft, an offender can be jailed up to seven years.