Man admits role in online gambling syndicate, used earnings to fake CPF contributions for house loan

The 32-year-old man was arrested at Waterway Point as part of an islandwide operation by the police to nab those involved in an illegal gambling syndicate.

SINGAPORE: An unemployed man looking for work joined an online gambling syndicate, first collecting illegal 4D and TOTO bets and later getting his account upgraded to "master agent", with other agents under him.

Wanting to secure a housing loan from the Housing Board for a flat, he used the criminal proceeds from the gambling ring to keep up the guise that he was receiving Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions as an employee.

Tan Ming Ren Kiegan, 32, was arrested at Waterway Point in July 2019 as part of an islandwide operation by the police to nab 36 people in the illegal gambling syndicate.

He pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Dec 20) to five charges under the Remote Gambling Act and Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act. Another eight charges will be considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Tan resigned from his job in 2016 and remained unemployed. In 2017, he told co-accused Tan Chee Sheng that he was looking for work.

Chee Seng was running illegal remote gambling services in Singapore and had several syndicate members operating under him.

He offered Tan the role of helping him collect illegal 4D and TOTO bets on his behalf, and Tan agreed.

The lotteries operated differently from the legal lotteries conducted by Singapore Pools. The illegal rates were S$1.60 for a "big" 4D bet and 70 cents for a small one, compared with the legal price of S$1 for each.

For illegal TOTO bets, the punter would be able to bet any amount they wanted, above the minimum sum of S$1. They could also bet on different combinations of numbers that were unavailable legally, and the prize payouts were different.

Chee Seng gave Tan an agent betting account on one of his illegal gambling websites and instructed Tan to find punters to place bets with him.

The betting account was eventually upgraded to a master agent account, giving Tan greater oversight and control in the syndicate including coordinating agents operating under him.

The master account had a credit limit of S$5 million. Initially, Tan received a commission of 10 per cent from all bets he received, and an additional 5 per cent of the winning amount if the bet won.

Subsequently, he took a position against the bets received, meaning he could share in the profits and losses instead of merely collecting commission.

Under his master agent account, Tan had at least four agent accounts linked to him. He issued one to an accomplice Jonathan Lee Jun Ying and taught him how to place bets and issue accounts to other people.

He also instructed Lee to settle payments every Monday night either in person, via a runner or through bank transfers. Tan would then distribute the payment to Chee Seng.

A total of S$27,614.10 in bets were placed through Lee's account and its sub-accounts in 18 days alone in July 2019.

In that same period, another S$26,391.02 of bets were placed through another agent under Tan.

THE CPF-RELATED OFFENCES

Tan also admitted to offences of transferring criminal proceeds. In 2016, he wanted to secure a housing loan from HDB for his flat.

To do so, he was required to show that he was gainfully employed and receiving a stable income. Tan wanted to build his credit rating through illegitimate contributions to his CPF account, so he decided to make cash payments to companies that would falsely declare him as an employee and make contributions to his CPF account.

Between August 2016 and November 2017, Tan made 11 payments of S$600 each, amounting to a total sum of S$6,600, to a person identified as Lim Poh Kian. Lim was a shareholder of the company BKDL, and arranged for an online submission of CPF contributions to Tan as a purported employee of BKDL.

Between March 2018 and June 2019, Tan made 16 payments of S$1,114 each, amounting to a total of S$17,824, to Chee Seng. Chee Seng then arranged for an associate of Revitalize Trading to make CPF contributions to Tan as a purported employee.

In 2019, Tan was contacted by a man known only as "Ah Khiang", who asked if Tan had any punters to introduce for illegal gambling.

Ah Kiang offered Tan a 5 per cent commission from all losses sustained by punters Tan introduced. Tan was also required to settle accounts with punters on a monthly basis.

In response, Tan gave "Ah Khiang" the contact details of a man. The man was given an illegal football betting account on a website, and he in turn gave the account to another punter to use.

The prosecutor on Tuesday asked for 17 to 20 months' jail and a fine of S$60,000.

Tan asked if he could defer his sentence until after Chinese New Year. He said his youngest daughter was eight months old and he wanted to take her visiting before he got sentenced.

The judge agreed to adjourn sentencing to Jan 25, but stressed that she did not normally do this.

When she asked Tan's mother, who was his bailor, some questions, Tan's mother tried to haggle to get the sentencing date pushed even further.

To this, the judge responded sternly and said the case had been left open for more than three years and she was already giving a concession.

Tan will be sentenced next month.