Prison for conman who went on the run for 19 years

A man went on the run for about 19 years after cheating three people of more than $6,600 in total.

Former sales executive Wong Chee Kuan is believed to have fled to Thailand before he finally surrendered himself to the Singapore authorities earlier this year. Court documents did not reveal why he decided to return here.

The 46-year-old Singaporean was sentenced on Tuesday to seven months' jail after pleading guilty to three counts of cheating.

Wong used to work at a company known as Auto Assist Global, which was then located in Upper Thomson Road. It sold annual memberships for Admiralty Resort and Country Club and also offered a programme which provided unlimited car wash services.

On Jan 29, 1996, a man identified as Mohamed Foad Buang contacted the firm and Wong told him about its services. Mr Foad then agreed to pay for the car wash programme and country club membership.

Wong arranged to meet Mr Foad at Hock Hin Engineering in Bukit Merah Lane the next day.

Wong turned up at 10.30am on Jan 30, 1996, and ordered a CD player and four cassette players worth nearly $1,400 in total.

Mr Foad arrived about two hours later. He passed his credit card to Wong who used it to pay for his goods instead.

In another incident, Wong cheated another man, identified as Mr Mohd Hashim Abu Othman.

Mr Hashim went to Auto Assist Global on Feb 22, 1996, to sign up for the car wash programme and Wong attended to him.

The court heard that $288 was later charged to Mr Hashim's credit card for the service. On March 1 that year, Wong went to Mr Hashim's home and told him that credit card payments would "take a long time" to be processed.

Wong then lied to Mr Hashim, claiming that he had paid $288 in cash to the firm on his victim's behalf. Wong also said that the company would void the earlier credit card payment.

Mr Hashim believed him and handed over a cheque for the amount, only to find out later that he had been duped after receiving his bank statement.

Separately, in November 2000, Wong duped a woman, Madam Jessie Wee, into handing him $5,000 in cash after claiming that he needed the money to pay his father's hospitalisation bill.

Madam Wee, who agreed to loan him the amount, later received from Wong a cheque for $5,000 and banked it in.

Later that month, she received a bank notice stating that the cheque could not be honoured as the account linked to it had been closed.