SINGAPORE – The director of a car dealership who deceived some clients by using the money he received from selling their cars has been sentenced to two years and 11 months’ jail.
On Nov 5, Tan Heng Khoon, 57, pleaded guilty to five cheating charges involving luxury cars including a Maserati Levante GranSport and a Jaguar I-Pace.
The court heard that no compensation order was sought as Tan has been declared bankrupt and does not have means to repay the victims.
Tan was the sole director and shareholder of 360 Holdings, a car dealership company in the business of buying and selling second-hand cars.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Hidayat Amir said Tan deceived sellers into believing he would be paying them the sale proceeds after they handed over their cars for the company to sell.
Instead, he used the money he received from selling the cars to finance his business expenses.
He also lied to buyers, saying he would transfer the ownership titles to them. After they paid him, he transferred a portion of the money he received to his personal bank account.
On one occasion in September 2022, the first victim engaged Tan to sell his Maserati, which was then valued at $389,000.
Later that year, Tan falsely promised the victim that he would pay him the sales proceeds of $152,663, after deducting the victim’s liabilities, deposit and commission owed to the company.
Tan handed the victim a cheque, despite knowing his firm did not have sufficient funds to finance the cheque. This led the victim to handing Tan the Maserati and its keys.
When the victim tried to deposit the cheque but found that it had bounced, he told Tan, who lied that this was because the buyer’s payment had not been received.
Tan gave the victim a new cheque, but told him not to cash the cheque yet.
The prosecutor said that in order to stall for time and deter the victim from alerting the police, Tan transferred $35,000 to him in December 2022.
The victim lodged a police report that month and has not received any other payments from Tan since.
On another occasion in October 2022, the second victim engaged Tan’s company to sell his Jaguar, which was then valued at $269,000.
Despite promising that he would hand over the sales proceeds of $256,310, the victim never received the money.
In March 2023, the third victim signed an agreement with Tan’s company to purchase a BMW 125 for $67,488.
The third victim collected the car, but the ownership of the vehicle was not transferred to him.
Tan also did not transfer the money to the seller of the BMW. Instead, he paid some of the money to various unknown individuals and transferred $10,000 to his personal bank account, said the prosecutor.
Multiple police reports were lodged and Tan was arrested in November 2024.
In mitigation, Tan’s defence lawyer Riko Isaac said his client was remorseful for his actions and had started businesses, including 360 Holdings, with the intention to support himself.
“Regrettably, he did not manage these businesses well and effectively became the architect of his own financial disaster and mess when he found himself being unable to cope with the various financial commitments he entered,” said Isaac.
“But he does not use this as an excuse and regrets all the losses he caused to the victims.”
Those convicted of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and is liable to a fine.