Four people charged after 2017 police probe into local football clubs
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Officers removing cartons of documents from the Football Association of Singapore office during a raid on April 20, 2017.
PHOTO: TNP FILE
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SINGAPORE – Four people were charged in the State Courts on Tuesday with obstructing police investigations and forging statements of local football clubs Hougang United and Woodlands Wellington in the build-up to the first Football Association of Singapore (FAS) elections in 2017.
The four are Gary Tan, Sng Kian Peng, Kaw Lai Fong and Lau Chee Yoong.
On Tuesday, the police confirmed that after close to five years, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) has completed investigations into a police report lodged by national sports agency SportSG that alleged, among other things, the misuse of funds by Tiong Bahru Football Club (TBFC) and a purported attempt to obstruct audits of football clubs that did not participate in the S-League in 2017.
Police also confirmed that “after careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case as disclosed by investigations, and with the concurrence of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), there will be no further action taken against other individuals in respect of the other matters reported in the police report”.
These individuals include former FAS president Zainudin Nordin, former FAS general secretary Winston Lee, Hougang United and Tiong Bahru chairman Bill Ng and his wife, Ms Bonnie Wong, who was the landlord of the Tiong Bahru clubhouse. It was previously reported that the quartet had been arrested and questioned by the CAD.
An AGC spokesman had told The Straits Times in 2021 that it had “directed the CAD to take no further action against” Mr Zainudin and Mr Lee.
When contacted, Mr Zainudin and Mr Ng declined comment, while Mr Lee could not be reached.
In a case that stunned the local football fraternity, the 2017 police probe was sparked by a revelation of a $500,000 donation by amateur club Tiong Bahru through the FAS to the Asean Football Federation. This was while Mr Ng was contesting against the late Mr Lim Kia Tong for the FAS presidency.
In the end, Mr Lim won as his Team LKT received 30 votes against the 13 votes for Mr Ng’s Game Changers.
Of the four people who were charged on Tuesday, former Woodlands chairman Tan and Sng are directors of ESW Holdings. They were charged with obstruction of justice, and allegedly instructing their staff to replace all the hard disks in their computers, with the intention of preventing CAD from having access to them.
Kaw, who was then Tiong Bahru general manager and Woodlands treasurer, was also charged with obstruction of justice after allegedly concealing her mobile phone from the CAD and lying about its whereabouts.
Those convicted of obstructing, preventing, perverting or defeating the course of justice can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.
Lau, an audit assistant at Chan Leng Leng & Co, had audited Woodlands’ and Hougang’s financial statements at the time.
He was charged with two counts of forgery for allegedly forging the financial statements of both clubs for the financial year ended on Dec 31, 2015, by fraudulently affixing the signature of sole proprietor Chan Leng Leng in the independent auditors’ report of the financial statements.
Those convicted of forgery can be jailed for up to four years and fined for each charge.
The quartet are out on bail of $15,000 each. Kaw’s case will be heard again on Wednesday as she wants to make an application to leave Singapore for a trip on Friday, while the others will be back in court on March 21.
Additional reporting by David Sun
