A Malaysian woman was sentenced to a 14-month jail term yesterday for the role she played in a scheme to make false insurance claims after staging traffic accidents in Singapore.
Rekha Tandaeduban, a former security officer, was charged with two counts of conspiring to cheat NTUC Income Insurance Cooperative and AXA Insurance Singapore, reported Channel NewsAsia. The 28-year-old also pleaded guilty to lodging a false police report and staging a road accident.
Rekha had submitted a total of S$37,000 (US$27,247) in insurance claims for the staged traffic collisions, which she was hired by a syndicate to execute, according to investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department.
It is believed that the syndicate recruited Malaysians to provide vehicles that were subsequently used in fake accidents. Individuals were hired to be “phantom drivers and passengers”, and were told to file false reports about their involvement in the incidents. They would either be paid via commission or through insurance pay-outs after they submitted injury claims.
In Rekha’s case, she entered Singapore on Aug 31, 2012, with two Malaysian accomplices — 30-year-old Navaneethan Tiban Sanggu (Navin) and 41-year-old Tang Jui Peng.
The three of them met with another group of Malaysians, two of whom would later be Rekha’s “passengers” in the car along with Navin in the front passenger seat. As they were driving along Eunos Link around 2:45pm, Navin instructed Rekha to hit the brakes abruptly. When the car screeched to a halt, a truck crashed into its rear end.
With Navin continuing to give her orders, Rekha submitted a false police report the following day. She also submitted fraudulent claims for damages and legal costs to NTUC Income Insurance that amounted to S$14,246 (US$10,496).
But the insurer found the claims suspicious and did not make payment, Channel NewsAsia noted.
At the next staged accident, Rekha was behind the wheel of a different car at Hougang Avenue 3 on Nov 29, 2012. Once again, she jam braked and caused the car behind to collide into hers, according to court documents.
The next day, she was given two days’ medical leave after she went to see a doctor. On Jan 10 the next year, she submitted S$22,755 (US$16,768) worth of claims for false personal injury to AXA, and the insurer paid out S$4,200 (US$3,095).
In court, deputy public prosecutor Nicholas Lim Kah Hwee said that syndicates planning false motor insurance claims would usually stage accidents in controlled environments, such as car parks. So to stage accidents on the roads was to put other drivers “at considerable risk of injury or even death”.
In her defense, Rekha said she was jobless when Navin forced her to commit the offenses. She also claimed she did not receive any payout and was only given back her car.
As for Navin, he’s also facing charges for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy. Tang and another accomplice, 26-year-old Sua Sun Heng — who apparently recruited Navin in Johor Bahru in 2012 — remain at large.
