SINGAPORE, Nov 3 — When law enforcement officers were conducting checks at various entertainment premises in 2019 and 2020, employees of different nightspots were covertly tipping each other off about the officers’ movements.
They provided details of the operations, such as the license plate numbers of the vehicles involved, the location of the raids and specific units or departments conducting such operations in messaging chat groups.
Today, four Singaporean men who were part of these chat groups were handed fines between S$5,000 and S$8,000 (RM16,698 and RM26,717) each after pleading guilty to obstructing the course of justice.
The individuals were Goh Hock Soon Jeffrey, 37; Lim Wei Xiong, 38; Muhammad Azhar Dawood, 29; and Ong Wee Sen, 49.
Twelve other co-accused persons, who had committed similar offences involving the same WhatsApp groups, have already pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to various fines and prison terms.
The court heard that the WhatsApp chat groups named Rolex Movement and Night Owl were discovered in April 2019, when a Malaysian was detained at the customs for an unrelated offence and his phone was checked.
Three nightclub employees were subsequently arrested on February 6 the following year while acting as lookouts for police presence near the nightclubs where they worked.
Subsequent investigations uncovered the existence of two other WhatsApp chat groups named UncleValet and Pao Pao Bing Tuan, according to court documents.
Lim, who was meted a fine of S$3,000, had worked as a manager at Leisure Court KTV Lounge when he sent two messages on February 1, 2020, via the Uncle Valet group to tip off others about a raid.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Azhar was working as a security officer at various night entertainment premises when he sent a message to the Night Owl group alerting them of ongoing operations at Orchard Tower on March 10, 2019.
He had also sent another message about two weeks later, which was taken into consideration for sentencing, and was fined S$5,000.
Goh, like Azhar, had also pleaded guilty to one charge while another charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.
On January 12, 2019, Goh who was working as a manager at De Luxy bar in Bugis sent five messages via the Night Owl chat group to warn others.
One of the messages mentioned “sbb”, referring to the Secret Societies Branch (SSB) of the Criminal Investigation Department.
“The SSB investigates secret society activities in Singapore, which are serious in nature. This enhances Goh’s culpability,” according to submissions by the prosecutor.
Goh was handed a fine of S$7,000.
As for Ong, 49, who was working as a public relations manager at a club along Sam Leong Road when he sent six tip-off messages to the Night Owl chat group on January 17, 2019, he was fined S$8,000.
The prosecution, who sought the S$8,00 fine, said that Ong had also sent out a photograph of a marked police van.
“Such brazen conduct ought to be deterred, and a sufficiently high fine is necessary,” said the Deputy Public Prosecutor Foong Ke Hui.
If convicted for intentionally obstructing the course of justice, a person is liable to a prison term of up to seven years, a fine, or both. — TODAY
