SINGAPORE: A man who tried but failed to dupe a bank into handing him a S$2.88 million loan in 2015 as part of a housing loan scam has been jailed for attempted cheating and drug-related offences.<\/p>\n
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
He continued abusing the drug until his arrest in August 2024 and has been in custody since.<\/p>\n
On Thursday (March 26), Saiful, 40, was sentenced to six years\u2019 jail after he pleaded guilty to five drug-related charges and an unrelated charge of attempted cheating linked to the scam.<\/p>\n
Other offenders involved in the scam, including Sufandi Ahmad and Bijabahadur Rai Shree Kantrai, were dealt with in court earlier.<\/p>\n
Deputy public prosecutors Joseph Gwee and Matthew Choo stated in court documents that Rai had proposed a \u201ccashback scheme\u201d to Sufandi.<\/p>\n
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
The DPP said: \u201cSufandi then convinced the sellers… 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
He then found out that a woman wanted to sell her property, which was referred to as X1 in court documents.<\/p>\n
An unnamed acquaintance later introduced Saiful to Sufandi, and Saiful agreed to be listed as X1\u2019s buyer.<\/p>\n
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
Saiful accepted Sufandi\u2019s proposal, although he knew he did not have the financial means to buy and finance the property.<\/p>\n
Saiful also did not intend to comply with the conditions of the mortgage loan, which included paying monthly instalments.<\/p>\n
Separately, Sufandi contacted a property agent who was facilitating X1\u2019s sale on the seller\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n
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
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
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
Saiful later met a bank officer and signed documents linked to the loan dated Feb 2, 2015.<\/p>\n
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
The property was also not transferred to Saiful, the court heard.<\/p>\n
He was arrested on Dec 2, 2019, and was released on bail later that day.<\/p>\n
On Oct 12, 2020, officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) spotted him in the ground-floor lift lobby of a building, details of which were redacted from court documents.<\/p>\n
They searched his bag and found seven packets of a crystalline substance later found to contain methamphetamine.<\/p>\n
The officers arrested Saiful, whose urine samples were later found to contain traces of meth.<\/p>\n
He was charged in court and released on bail in December 2020.<\/p>\n
On Sept 13, 2021, he pleaded guilty to drug consumption but absconded before his slated sentencing on Oct 12 that year.<\/p>\n
On Aug 15, 2024, CNB officers re-arrested Saiful.<\/p>\n
His urine samples were later found to contain traces of meth, and he was not allowed bail. – The Straits Times\/ANN<\/p>\n
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