SINGAPORE — After he decided to work as a disc jockey in China, Leng Choun Keong did not bother to renew his Singapore passport or renew his exit permit for overseas employment.

The Singaporean managed to evade his National Service (NS) reservist duties for about 12 years until he reached the NS statutory age of 40.

He was caught after re-entering Singapore with a fake Uganda passport that he had procured in China.

On Thursday (Sept 16), Leng, now aged 50, was jailed for four months and fined S$9,000. He pleaded guilty to two charges under the Enlistment Act, and another charge under the Immigration Act.

The court heard that he completed his full-time NS in 1990 and attended two reservist cycles.

He left Singapore for China in 1995, working as a disc jockey and staying with a woman with whom he had developed a relationship.

He had been issued three exit permits for overseas employment purposes, spanning from June 1995 to April 1998.

He last left Singapore in November 1996 but failed to return or apply for a new exit permit.

The authorities sent three reminder letters to his registered address in Singapore and his last known overseas address, a hotel in Xiamen, but he did not respond.

He did not renew his passport when it expired in 2005 and later lost it. He also did not remain in contact with his family.

In 2018, he decided to return to Singapore when his mother and brother were ill, but realised that he did not have a valid passport and was afraid of being punished by the Chinese authorities for overstaying in China. He had not applied to validate his stay there after his passport expired.

He then approached a friend, known to him as Fredrick, and paid him US$20,000 (about S$26,500) to procure a passport.

About a month later, he received a passport with his photograph affixed on it. It bore the name “Leng Christopher” and stated that his nationality was Ugandan and that he had been born in Malaysia.

Leng continued to remain in China until January last year, when he used the passport to enter Singapore.

Several months later on Oct 14, he approached the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) for citizenship services.

He was referred to the Ministry of Defence’s Central Manpower Base for investigations.

This year on May 31, he was arrested by an ICA officer for knowingly producing a misleading passport.

When asked on Thursday if he had anything to say in mitigation, he said that he did not.

For his immigration offence, he could have been jailed for up to two years or fined up to S$6,000, or both.

Those subject to the Enlistment Act and who are convicted of failing to return to Singapore before their exit permit expires, can be jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$10,000, or both.