SINGAPORE — He cheated more than two dozen timeshare membership owners over a period of almost two-and-a-half years, before the authorities nabbed him in April 2017.

Goh Chun Kiat was then released on bail and personal bonds by law enforcement agencies in Singapore. However, he decided to abscond to Thailand via Malaysia through illegal means as his passport had expired in 1993.

A district court previously heard that Goh sought help from a member of a human trafficking syndicate to abscond, but ended up being kidnapped by the trafficker and his friends.

He paid S$20,000 to escape by speedboat from a spot near Changi Village on Aug 17, 2017, aided by the same boatman who helped City Harvest Church leader Chew Eng Han unsuccessfully escape Singapore a few months later.

Just six days after his escape, Goh was arrested by the Malaysian authorities. He was repatriated to Singapore in February last year and has been in remand since.

On Tuesday (Sept 24), the 41-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to 15 cheating charges and four other offences of consuming and possessing methamphetamine, using a forged document, and leaving Singapore from an unauthorised departing place. Another 123 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur imposed a jail term of 11-and-a-half years, noting that Goh was “clearly a prime mover” in the cheating scheme even if he was not the mastermind.

He had previously been jailed five years and given three strokes of the cane in 2003 for consuming methamphetamine.

COPIED WHAT A COMPANY DID 

The court heard that Goh, along with two of his associates known as “runners”, cheated 27 timeshare owners from November 2014 to March 2017.

The total amount came up to S$606,496.93. He has not made any restitution.

In 2013, Goh had worked in Collis Wong & Associates, a company that purported to help such owners terminate their timeshare memberships and recover their money.

During this time, he learnt that this was not possible, and that the company lied to the owners that a British company called Fidelity Escrow Services would be handling the disbursement of recovered funds.

Fidelity was incorporated in the United Kingdom in 2012 and was dissolved in November 2015.

In 2014, Goh left Collis Wong and set up a similarly named company of his own, as well as another company. He also took a list of the timeshare owners with their personal particulars and contact details.

While operating the two new firms, he perpetuated the same scam as his previous company. He collected various fees from the timeshare owners, in exchange for purportedly helping them to recover money from their investments or timeshare memberships.

BROUGHT IN RUNNERS

In 2016, he ran the same scam through his runners Kenji Pong Jia Rong and Liong Hong Ting. They targeted the timeshare owners, whom Collis Wong had already cheated, into paying thousands of dollars.

On Goh’s instructions, Pong and Liong lied to the owners that they were representatives from Fidelity. They showed the owners forged documents, including bank drafts and cashier’s orders purportedly issued by reputable banks, to boost their credibility.

Goh also told the pair to show the owners fake identification cards, to hide their real identities.

After the owners paid up, Pong and Liong met them again to tell them that the recovered money was being held in escrow overseas, and that they needed to pay more to get it back.

The pair then handed the owners’ money over to Goh.

During this time, Goh started taking drugs occasionally and eventually did so on a daily basis.

On April 7, 2017, he was arrested for drug-related and other offences. Two packets of methamphetamine were found on him.

FATHER PAID S$80,000 RANSOM

Two days after his initial arrest, Goh was released on police bail of S$15,000 and four personal bonds of S$500 each.

He was forbidden to leave Singapore with permission from the court or police, and had to report to the authorities to renew his bond and bail on April 20 and 21 in 2017. But he failed to comply and remained uncontactable.

The Central Narcotics Bureau could not find Goh at his home later on June 13 or Aug 10 and a police gazette was issued against him. It was not stated where he was.

In early August, Goh had asked his friend in Thailand for help to illegally leave Singapore. Goh paid his friend’s contact, identified only as James, S$20,000 over several transactions for this task.

On Aug 17, 2017, he boarded a speedboat at Changi Point Coastal Walk and was taken to Johor Baru, Malaysia.

The court previously heard that when Goh reached Malaysia, his kidnappers took him to a bungalow at an undisclosed location and physically assaulted him there. The kidnappers had conspired with James to abduct him.

The kidnappers called Goh's family that evening to negotiate the ransom amount and finally agreed upon $80,000. Goh’s father handed over the money at Woodlands Checkpoint, then made a police report the next day.

Goh was arrested by the police in Malaysia on Aug 23, 2017, and jailed five months for illegally entering the country.

He was released on Dec 4 that year, held in a detention centre, and repatriated to Singapore on Feb 17 last year before being arrested again.

Several items were seized from Goh then. These included counterfeit seals and stamps, 76 forged Citibank demand drafts, and the list of the timeshare owners.