A local man will now have to spend the rest of his life paying the Singapore government over a million dollars after the police busted him for being an illegal gambling agent.
On top of the three-month jail sentence and $36,000 fine Heng Ee Howe received last year, he has now been ordered to pay a sum of $1,093,246.92 to the government, according to the Singapore Police Force. The figure is the same amount of money that he was found to have accumulated over his years as an illegal bookie.
His wife, who helped out in Heng’s operations, wasn’t let off the hook either. Like her husband, she too was convicted for helping to carry out a public lottery and managing a remote gambling operation through the receipts of bets via instant messaging platforms. Tin Suh Chyong was sentenced to an imprisonment term of two weeks and a fine of $100,000.
She also owes $29,669.81 to the government. Though the two were convicted in March 2018, it was yesterday that the couple were ordered to pay their respective sums for the benefits they were believed to have derived from their illegal betting activities.
The operation
The two were under the employment of an individual only known as “Ah Gu”, and their job was to collect illegal 4D bets for “Ah Gu”. Heng would receive commissions from a percentage of the total amount of bets collected and the winnings of each punter.
How it worked was that Heng would consolidate all the bets he received and fax them over to Malaysian runners. Tin’s role was to fill in for Heng when he wasn’t able to do so.
The bust
The authorities were suspicious of the couple when they found out Heng and Tin had accumulated an unexplained wealth of $1,093,246.92 and $29,669.81 respectively between June 1, 2010, and June 3, 2015. The extraordinary amounts were disproportionate to their known sources of income, according to the police.
The Commercial Affairs Department then sought a confiscation order against the two and forfeited their total illicit income of $1,122,916.73. Their bank accounts were frozen, and their condominium unit was prevented from being sold off.
Heng and Tin were convicted of offenses under the Common Gaming House Act and the Remote Gambling Act, which convicts anyone guilty of carrying out a public lottery and providing illegal remote gambling services.
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