{"id":39733,"date":"2026-03-27T20:30:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=39733"},"modified":"2026-03-27T20:30:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:30:37","slug":"jail-for-man-who-tried-to-dupe-bank-into-giving-him-2-88m-mortgage-loan-abused-meth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=39733","title":{"rendered":"Jail for man who tried to dupe bank into giving him $2.88m mortgage loan, abused meth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013<!-- --> A man who tried but failed to dupe a bank into handing him a $2.88 million loan in 2015 as part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/lawyer-charged-with-conspiracy-to-cheat-bank-of-mortgage-loans?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">a housing loan scam<\/span><\/a> has been jailed for attempted cheating and drug-related offences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Saiful Azri Ali Amat had earlier pleaded guilty in September 2021 to methamphetamine consumption, only to abscond before his scheduled sentencing the following month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He continued abusing the drug until his arrest in August 2024 and has been in custody since.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On March 26, Saiful, 40, was sentenced to six years\u2019 ja<!-- -->il<!-- --> after he pleaded guilty to five drug-related charges and an unrelated charge of attempted cheating linked to the scam.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Other offenders involved in the scam, including <!-- -->Sufandi Ahmad and Bijabahadur Rai Shree Kantrai,<!-- --> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/jail-for-5-men-linked-to-housing-loan-scam-bank-duped-into-disbursing-over-51m?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">were dealt with in court earlier<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Deputy public prosecutors Joseph Gwee and Matthew Choo stated in court documents that <!-- -->Rai had proposed a \u201ccashback scheme\u201d to Sufandi<!-- -->. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">As part of the ruse, Sufandi had to look for private landed properties that were for sale and find \u201cbuyers\u201d who would purchase these properties in their names. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The DPP<!-- -->s<!-- --> said: \u201cSufandi then convinced the sellers&#8230; to perform a \u2018cashback\u2019 (to the offenders) of the excess payment received from the buyers\u2019 bank upon completion (of the transaction) as a result of the inflated sale price.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He then found out that a woman wanted to sell her property, which was referred to as X1 in court documents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">An unnamed acquaintance later introduced Saiful to Sufandi, and Saiful agreed to be listed as X1\u2019s buyer. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Sufandi also told Saiful to apply for a mortgage <!-- -->loan<!-- --> to buy the property, saying it would \u201cbe an investment which would reap returns in a few years\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Saiful accepted Sufandi\u2019s proposal, although he knew he did not have the financial means to buy and finance the property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Saiful also did not intend to comply with the conditions of the mortgage loan, which included paying monthly instalments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Separately, Sufandi contacted a property agent who was facilitating X1\u2019s sale on the seller\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">After negotiations, the seller agreed to sell it for $2.6 million but state an inflated sale price of $3.6 million on the conveyancing documents. She was told by the property agent that <!-- -->this<!-- --> was to allow Saiful to obtain a higher bank loan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Sufandi then obtained forged documents, including a fabricated Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore notice of assessment under Saiful\u2019s name showing that he purportedly had an annual income of $458,000 in 2013.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">These documents were then sent to a bank <!-- -->to dupe<!-- --> it into disbursing a $2.88 million loan to fund the purchase of X1. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Saiful later met a bank officer and signed documents linked to the loan dated Feb 2, 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The DPPs told the court: \u201cThe sale of X1 was eventually not completed as (the bank) discovered that Saiful\u2019s income documents were forged and cancelled the application before any loans were disbursed.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The property was also not transferred to Saiful, the court heard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He was arrested on Dec 2, 2019, and was released on bail later that day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Oct 12, 2020, officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) spotted him <!-- -->at<!-- --> the ground-floor lift lobby of a building, details of which were redacted from court documents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">They searched his bag and found seven packets of a crystalline substance later found to contain methamphetamine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The officers arrested Saiful, whose urine samples were later found to contain traces of meth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He was charged in court and released on bail in December 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Sept 13, 2021, he pleaded guilty to drug consumption but absconded before his <!-- -->sentencing slated for Oct 12 that year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Aug 15, 2024, CNB officers re-arrested Saif<!-- -->ul.<!-- --> <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">His urine samples were later found to contain traces of meth, and he was not allowed bail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/jail-for-man-who-tried-to-cheat-bank-into-giving-2-88m-mortgage-loan-abused-meth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 A man who tried but failed to dupe a bank into handing him a $2.88 million loan in 2015 as part of a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}