SINGAPORE – A man who tried but failed to dupe a bank into handing him a $2.88 million loan in 2015 as part of a housing loan scam has been jailed for attempted cheating and drug-related offences.
Saiful Azri Ali Amat had earlier pleaded guilty in September 2021 to methamphetamine consumption, only to abscond before his scheduled sentencing the following month.
He continued abusing the drug until his arrest in August 2024 and has been in custody since.
On March 26, Saiful, 40, was sentenced to six years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to five drug-related charges and an unrelated charge of attempted cheating linked to the scam.
Other offenders involved in the scam, including Sufandi Ahmad and Bijabahadur Rai Shree Kantrai, were dealt with in court earlier.
Deputy public prosecutors Joseph Gwee and Matthew Choo stated in court documents that Rai had proposed a “cashback scheme” to Sufandi.
As part of the ruse, Sufandi had to look for private landed properties that were for sale and find “buyers” who would purchase these properties in their names.
The DPPs said: “Sufandi then convinced the sellers… to perform a ‘cashback’ (to the offenders) of the excess payment received from the buyers’ bank upon completion (of the transaction) as a result of the inflated sale price.”
He then found out that a woman wanted to sell her property, which was referred to as X1 in court documents.
An unnamed acquaintance later introduced Saiful to Sufandi, and Saiful agreed to be listed as X1’s buyer.
