Ex-condo chief scoffs at fine for mischief

Source : Straits Times - 22 Apr 2009

FOR his acts of mischief in Laguna Park condominium, Lee Kok Leong, 62, former chairman of its management committee, was fined $1,200.

Arms folded as he sat in the dock yesterday, he told reporters: ‘Fine, then fine lah. After all, I can afford it. I can spend $4,000 in one night on karaoke.’

The general manager of a shipping company was so sure he would not be jailed that he had made plans to go to his office in Bukit Merah later in the day.

Earlier, he had pleaded guilty to inserting super glue into the keyholes of the padlock, front and rear gates of Mr Yap Cher Sim’s flat at Block 5000E on Aug 25 last year. For that, he was fined $800.

That same day, he did the same thing to another flat in the same block, belonging to Ms Alice Elizabeth Rappa. That resulted in another $400 fine.

Lee could also have been jailed up to a year for the offences, on top of being fined.

The Community Court heard that he had been caught in the act by the closed-circuit television camera installed by Mr Yap along the common corridor.

Lee later told police he had bought two tubes of super glue a day earlier with the aim of damaging Mr Yap’s unit. Someone had done the same super glue stunt to his own letterbox earlier, he claimed.

The acts of vandalism in the Marine Parade condominium came to light last July amid a row which erupted among residents over whether the condominium should be sold en bloc.

Among those who opposed the sale were Mr Yap and Ms Rappa. At that time, a regular apartment in the 530-unit condominium could have fetched more than $2.1 million in a collective sale. A penthouse owner could have received almost $4 million.

Proponents had included Lee, a 1998 Public Service Medal recipient who has lived there for the past 30 years.

His lawyer, Mr Ramesh Tiwary, said his client wanted a nest egg for his retirement and was unhappy at attempts to derail the collective sale process.

He was so upset that he suffered a relapse of a psychiatric condition which he had been diagnosed with since 1998, Mr Tiwary told Community Court judge Soh Tze Bian yesterday.

Dr Ung Eng Khean, a senior consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist, confirmed this in his medical report, saying that Lee had a relapse of ‘moderate to severe depression’ last June.

The court case is not the end of the mischief that has plagued Laguna Park residents. Mr Larry Chan, 51, filed a police report after he found his mailbox forced open, its metal flap bent, and all the mail removed two weeks ago.

Residents told The Straits Times that the lift button for the ninth floor, where Mr Yap and Ms Rappa live, has been burnt three times. The last time was two months ago.

Lee has paid for the damage he caused to his neighbours’ property, amounting to about $600.

But no, he had not apologised to them, he told reporters. And no, he had no regrets about what he had done.

‘What’s there to regret? What’s done is done. I am not remorseful.’

Asked if he knew about the recent vandalism acts in his condominium, he shrugged his shoulders and said: ‘Yes I heard about it. But it’s none of my business.’