SINGAPORE — A Singapore church official convicted in a multimillion-dollar fraud case was charged again in court on Thursday after trying to flee the city-state on a boat a day before he was to begin serving a reduced jail sentence. The five-year long legal battle that mixed fraud and faith had gripped the wealthy southeast Asian island, where there is little tolerance of corruption. Chew Eng Han, who was the treasurer of the City Harvest Church and an investment manager, had hired a boat to escape to neighbouring Malaysia, a trip of less than an hour, when he was arrested by the coast guard on Wednesday, Singapore police said. Chew was arrested “for attempting to leave Singapore illegally,” the police said in a statement, adding that their investigation continued. Chew and another man were arrested in a motor boat off the island of Pulau Ubin north of Singapore. Chew had S$5,000 in cash, the police said. Singapore media said the pair claimed to have been fishing when questioned. Chew, who is in custody, could not be reached for comment. Reuters could not immediately contact his lawyer to seek comment. Chew was among six church leaders convicted in October 2015 of misusing millions of dollars to support the pop-singing career of the wife of a church co-founder. She was not charged in the case. Chew was to have begun serving a sentence of three years and four months, which had been cut from six years on appeal. Earlier in February, a… [Read full story]
Hanoi police proposed fraud charge against a prominent businessman who was once exonerated from an 18-year jail term. Nguyen Dinh Chien, 59, head of Bac Ha Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company and Bac Ha Hong Kong Group was arrested on Tuesday. Chien stands accused of falsifying financial documents, including papers from foreign banks, in order to hide the value of his businesses and to cheat others. Investigations showed that Chien had appropriated VND20 billion (US$1.04 million) from Nguyen Trai University, and VND6.5 billion ($340,670) from Dai Vien Duong Company. The director general was also accused of using land titles…... [read more]
Illegal immigration ring-leaders given jail sentences (28-05-2005) HCM CITY— Organisers of illegal immigration to Europe and the Republic of Korea received punishments ranging from 10 years in prison to one year suspended sentence, on Thursday in a HCM City court. The heaviest sentence of 10 years in jail was delivered to Hoang Hong Quang for organising the illegal immigration of 15 people, pocketing almost US$12,000. His chief accomplice, Tran Dinh Thien, was sentenced to seven years in prison for helping 26 illegal immigrants enter the European countries of Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Spain. Illegal immigrants also went to the Republic…... [read more]
Former railway officials face jail sentences of 6-13 years The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – The prosecution has proposed jail terms of 6-13 years for six former officials of the Railway Project Management Unit (RPMU) for allegedly receiving kickbacks from a Japanese firm. Three are former directors of RPMU, Tran Van Luc, Tran Quoc Dong and Nguyen Van Hieu; two are former deputy directors of RPMU, Pham Hai Bang and Pham Quang Duy; and one is former head of a division under RPMU, Nguyen Nam Thai. They started to stand trial in Hanoi on October 26. The local news site…... [read more]
Hanoi (VNA) – The
Hanoi People’s Court on June 5 sentenced four defendants from 30 months to 20
years in prison for illegally shipping drugs to Russia.
Pham Van Tai, who was born in 1986 and resides
in Mai Dich ward of Hanoi’s Cau Giay district, received a 20-year jail
sentence. Nguyen Anh Tuan (born in 1981, Mai Dong ward of Hanoi’s Hoang Mai
district) will be imprisoned for 18 years and Nguyen Huy (born in 1990, Cau Den
ward of Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung district) will serve 17 years in prison.
They were sentenced for illegal drug
…... [read more]
Bangkok (VNA) – The Supreme Court of Thailand on September 6 upheld the 20-year imprisonment sentence on Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of the Manager Media Group, and two former directors of the group for violations of the Securities and Exchange Act. They were convicted of falsifying documents used as collateral for a 1.08-billion-baht loan from Krung Thai Bank, and failing to seek approval for the loan from the company board in 1996-1997. Sondhi, also founder of the yellow-shirt People Alliance for Democracy, and the two former directors were sentenced in 2012 by the Criminal Court. However, they appealed. They again appealed…... [read more]
