• Tan Yung Meng earned S$7,500 in profits over a few months
• He used the sale proceeds from his mother’s flat to finance the brothel operations
• His two accomplices have also been jailed over the scheme

SINGAPORE — Working with two others, Tan Yung Meng obtained rental units in residential areas across Singapore and sublet them to sex workers to use as makeshift brothels.

Tan used the money his mother had earned from selling her Serangoon public housing flat — about S$100,000 — to rent four units. Over a few months, he earned S$7,500 before the authorities put an end to the scheme.

On Friday (March 26), the 49-year-old Singaporean was sentenced in a district court to six months and nine weeks’ jail. 

He pleaded guilty to two charges under the Women’s Charter of being in charge of a brothel and living on prostitutes’ earnings, as well as a third charge of allowing one of the workers, who was an immigration offender, to stay in Singapore.

District Judge Marvin Bay considered another three similar charges for sentencing.

Tan will begin serving his sentence on April 16.

The court heard that Tan met up with his old acquaintance, Wee Teck Chuan, sometime in December 2017. Tan’s mother had just sold her flat, so Wee proposed that he fork out S$5,000 for a “kai gong fang” (operations of brothels) business.

Upon hearing that he would receive 40 per cent of the profits, Tan agreed.

They used the initial S$5,000 to rent a unit in Little India, along Race Course Road. Tan received S$800 to S$900 every 10 days from the business.

The two men then approached Toh Lye Thiam to join their scheme. He would sign tenancy agreements on behalf of them, then sublet them to prostitutes from China. 

His role was to be the “dua pek gong” — the person who registered his name on various units so that the masterminds could better hide from the authorities.

Wee, who had experience in the trade, sourced for suitable units and contacted the sex workers. Tan was the financier, investing money to pay for the rentals.

ONE SEX WORKER SERVICED 26 CUSTOMERS

Wee later told Tan that another suitable unit had been found and asked Tan to invest another S$4,000.

They then rented this second unit, also along Race Course Road, but the police raided it the day after they signed the agreement.

The two men then quarrelled over the business and their partnership ended in February 2018.

Toh then approached Tan and told him he had found a suitable unit at Jalan Ayer in Kallang. Tan agreed to invest another S$5,500.

After signing the rental agreement, Toh, with the help of agents, managed to arrange for two prostitutes to rent the rooms. He collected 30 per cent of the profits before handing over the remainder to Tan.

But both men also had a dispute and ended their partnership. Tan then began liaising with the agents on his own and collected the room rental fees.

One of the prostitutes who rented a room had overstayed in Singapore after her social visit pass expired. The 36-year-old woman provided sexual services to 26 customers between mid-March and March 26, 2018.

The following day, immigrations officers arrested her at the unit. She was fined S$300 for unlawfully remaining in Singapore.

The authorities also conducted a joint operation at the Studio8 condominium complex in Geylang on April 10, 2018. There, they found Tan and two other sex workers, who had also overstayed in Singapore for a few days.

Toh and Wee have been jailed for their roles in the scheme.

In sentencing Tan, District Judge Bay noted that he had “played a fairly substantial role” in bankrolling the operations and getting Toh to “potentially take the rap for him” if they were discovered.

“There is a clear need to deter activities of this nature, given the obvious moral hazards associated with the setting up of brothels and other establishments of ill-repute in residential housing areas,” the judge added.