SINGAPORE, July 23 — A car dealer tricked his customer into transferring ownership of a luxury car to the dealership with the promise of renewing its Certificate of Entitlement (COE) at a favourable rate. The dealer then secretly used the vehicle as security to get a loan.

About a year later, in a separate swindle, the dealer, Tor Kar Wai, misappropriated the proceeds of selling another client’s car. He used the funds to pay off some loans and to gamble.

Today, the 53-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to three years' jail after pleading guilty to one count each of cheating and criminal breach of trust.

Three further charges of criminal breach of trust, also involving clients at the car dealership, were taken into consideration during the sentencing.

What happened

The court heard that Tor was the managing director and car dealer at Atlantic Automobile.

Sometime in January 2021, a client approached him to renew the COE of his wife’s car, a Porsche Panamera, worth about S$111,000 (RM385,417). The wife had earlier bought the Porsche from Tor.

Tor told the victim that he would renew the car’s COE at a good rate if the ownership of the vehicle was first transferred to Atlantic Automobile, and that he would transfer it back after the certificate was renewed.

The victim's wife could still drive the car in the meantime, Tor told them.

The victim had the ownership transferred on Jan 26. The same day Tor used it as security to secure a S$100,000 loan to the company from Dickson Capital, without the knowledge of the victim or the victim’s wife.

"Instead of redeeming the loan on the Porsche, the accused spent his available funds to redeem other vehicles which he had put up as security for other loans,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tung Shuo Pin.

Tor later defaulted on the loan, which led to Dickson repossessing the Porsche from the victim on September 16, 2021. The victim then paid Tor’s outstanding loan of over S$69,900 to redeem the car.

On February 9, 2022, Tor agreed to sell another client’s Toyota car and help her buy a Lexus. He was supposed to hand over the proceeds from selling the Toyota to the owner of the Lexus to offset part of the purchase price.

However, after he sold the Toyota and received about S$64,650 from the buyer on February 18, Tor did not transfer the money to the Lexus owner, though he did hand over the Lexus to his client.

Tor instead used the money to repay a personal debt and gamble at casinos.

As the Lexus’ owner had not been paid, he did not transfer ownership to Tor’s client but recovered the Lexus using his spare key. The client thus suffered a loss of around S$64,650.

Seeking a jail term of between 38 months and 48 months, DPP Tung highlighted aggravating factors such as the large amount of money and high value of assets involved, as well as the "deliberate deceit” involved in using his client’s car to secure a loan.

"The accused did not merely omit to mention a risk of losing the Porsche — he never intended to return the Porsche’s ownership at all,” the prosecutor argued.

Tor’s plea of guilt was the "only notable mitigating factor” in this case, he added.

Seeking a lighter sentence of about 20 months’ jail, defence lawyer Wee Hong Shern of DC Ong & Co described his client as a "hardworking” person who gives to charity when he can.

He said that Tor was "thoroughly remorseful” and that the case has cost the latter in many aspects of his life. For example, Tor has developed mental disorders, said the lawyer, citing a report from the Institute of Mental Health.

He said that Tor had put up the car as security to get a loan as he was trying to keep his company afloat.

As for the criminal breach of trust case, he said that Tor had "succumbed to temptation” when he received the money from the Toyota sale and has regretted his actions.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw in delivering his brief remarks called Tor’s conduct "truly reprehensible” and noted that no restitution has been made to the victims.

For his cheating offence, Tor could have been jailed for up to 10 years and been liable to a fine.

For each count criminal breach of trust, he could have been jailed for up to 20 years and also be liable to a fine. — TODAY