SINGAPORE — Leslie Pek Kwang Hong was having drinks in a night club at Peace Centre when he was approached by a man who asked if he was interested in making money.

All he needed to do was to collect money left in letterboxes and deposit it into specific bank accounts. Pek, who was unemployed at the time, took up the offer.

When he was later asked to go into residential units to collect the money instead of from the letterboxes, he then realised that he was collecting the earnings of Thai prostitutes.

However, he continued doing his illicit tasks and even started managing a brothel.

On July 16 last year, he was finally arrested during a raid by police officers.

On Tuesday (Feb 4), Pek, who is now 28, pleaded guilty to two charges of living in part on prostitution earnings and a single charge each of assisting in the management of a brothel and gambling using a remote communication.

He was jailed six months’ jail and fined S$3,000. Eleven similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lee Ti-Ting, who sought the sentence given, said that the punishment was on the “low side of things” because Pek had been forthcoming and wanted to help investigators.

Acting on information provided by Pek, police officers were able to conduct raids on four other locations and were able to detain nine Thai women.

PAID S$28,000 FOR JOBS

The court heard that from Feb 19 to March 5, and from July 2 to 16 last year, Pek was assisting a vice syndicate and was required to visit two Thai prostitutes every day to collect their earnings from them directly.

In total, both women handed over around S$10,330 to him.

Pek then met different Thai nationals at a taxi stand at Golden Mile Complex along Beach Road to give them the money.

In June last year, Pek was also approached by two men who asked him to find a cleaner to clean up a unit which they wanted to use as a brothel.

DPP Lee said that Pek was willing to do this because he wanted to earn extra money. The syndicate then tasked him to manage the brothel from July 2 onwards, up until his arrest.

During this period, he supplied condoms and lubricants to the prostitutes when they provided sexual services to their customers, and was also responsible for paying the brothel’s utility bills with their earnings.

Pek said that he earned S$28,000 through this channel.

Aside from his involvement with the syndicate, Pek also took up remote gambling.

He placed 4D and Toto lottery bets with his cousin, who was working as an illegal bets collector.

When his cousin was arrested, Pek asked him for contacts of other illegal bets collectors and was later invited to a WhatsApp chat group by an unknown individual.

Pek then placed bets that amounted to more than S$13,760 from April 22 to July 14 last year and paid for these bets through runners who met him near or at his home.

For living in part on prostitution earnings, Pek could have been jailed up to five years and fined up to S$10,000.

For assisting in the management of a brothel, he could have been fined up to S$3,000, or jailed up to three years, or both.

And for his remote gambling offence, he could have been fined up S$5,000 or jailed up to six months, or both.