Source : Straits Times - 7 Nov 2008
A LAWYER pleaded guilty yesterday to being part of an elaborate housing scam that cheated banks out of almost $700,000.
David Tan Hock Boon, 40, became the fourth person convicted in connection with the plot, which also involved David Rasif, Singapore’s most famous fugitive lawyer.
A district court heard that Tan conceived a scam in 2003 to swindle banks and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board by falsely declaring the purchase prices of properties.
His partners included property agent Goh Chong Liang and Rasif, who went missing in June 2006 with about $12 million of his clients’ money.
Their plan saw Goh convince sellers and buyers of properties, mainly HDB flats, to declare inflated purchase prices.
Armed with phoney documents such as CPF and employment records, they secured mortgages well above the value of the houses.
The scam, set in motion in 2004, saw them pocket nearly $700,000 in just over a year.
Court documents did not say how the men planned to get away without repaying the loans.
When the Commercial Affairs Department got wind of something suspicious in 2005, Goh asked to have signatures removed from documents connected to the sale. Tan handed over the documents to Goh, who erased his own signatures and replaced them with those of another man, Zurkifli Alang Noordin, in return for money.
Goh was sentenced to five years and five months’ jail on Aug 2 last year for his offences, while Zurkifli was jailed for a year in April.
Another man involved in the scam, Abu Samah Yacob, was jailed for 17 months in June. Rasif remains on the run.
District Judge Toh Yung Cheong adjourned Tan’s sentencing to next Friday.
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