{"id":45189,"date":"2026-04-17T15:17:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T07:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=45189"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:17:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T07:17:40","slug":"nickel-scam-jail-for-man-who-was-ng-yu-zhis-surety-for-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=45189","title":{"rendered":"Nickel scam: Jail for man who was Ng Yu Zhi\u2019s surety for bail"},"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 Even though he did not have enough cash or assets, the father-in-law of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/billion-dollar-nickel-scam-ng-yu-zhi-spent-7m-on-luxury-cars-he-gave-to-wife-girlfriends?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"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\">alleged nickel-trading fraudster\u00a0Ng Yu Zhi<\/span><\/a> agreed to be Ng\u2019s surety linked to a bail sum of $1.5 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Court documents stated that private-hire driver Chua Eng Kiam, 68, knew that Ng, 38, would provide the money needed for the bail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The prosecution said: \u201cNone of (Chua\u2019s) money was at risk of forfeiture, and he knew full well that Ng would be responsible for the money should bail be forfeited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On April 16<!-- -->, Chua was sentenced to two months\u2019 jail after he pleaded guilty to a bail-related offence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ng is accused of masterminding a nickel-trading scam\u00a0that attracted more than $1 billion from multiple investors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">His case is pending. Chua\u2019s daughter divorced him in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Deputy public prosecutors Matthew Choo and Brian Tan told the court that between March 2021 and March 2022, Ng was handed 105 charges for offences including cheating and forgery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">His charges were transmitted to the High Court in January 2023, <!-- -->and<!-- --> the State Court then imposed a bail sum of $6 million. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In March that year, Ng was released on bail linked to two sureties \u2013 his own father and another person known as <!-- -->Quek Chin Chuan<!-- --> \u2013 in sums of $4.5 million and $1.5 million, respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On or before June 23, 2023, Ng asked Chua to <!-- -->replace<!-- --> one of his sureties linked to a bail sum of $1.5 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Chua was also told that Ng would borrow the sum from his own friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Despite not having enough in cash or assets, Chua agreed with Ng\u2019s request to be a surety for the sum of $1.5 million. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Chua also knew that he was unable to furnish the required bail amount.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Court documents stated that Ng then arranged for others to be falsely identified in sham loan agreements with Chua.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The DPPs said multiple people then agreed to be identified as Chua\u2019s lenders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On or around June 27, 2023, Chua executed agreements with multiple people linked to loan amounts totalling more than $1 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The DPPs said: \u201c(Chua) agreed with Ng to sign the loan agreements and to bring them to court, knowing that they were only for the purposes of showing to the court to prove his source of funds for the bail money. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe accused&#8230; understood from Ng that he was not required to repay any of these loans, even though his name was reflected on the respective agreements as the borrower.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ng later arranged for Chua to be provided with more than $1.5 million, the court heard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">After receiving the amount, Chua opened two fixed deposit accounts and $1.5 million was later credited into them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On June 28, 2023, the court granted Quek\u2019s application to be discharged as a bailor, and allowed Chua to be the replacement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Chua also handed over the loan agreements to a State Courts officer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Without revealing details, the prosecutors said that while out on bail, Ng allegedly committed offences linked to the sale of a shophouse in Bussorah Street near Beach Road between October and November that year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He was arrested on Jan 29, 2024, and later handed several additional charges for offences including forgery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ng\u2019s bail was revoked on Feb 7 that year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Two days later, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) seized the bail sum of $1.5 million linked to Chua. CAD officers later arrested Chua on Dec 4, 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On April 16, the DPP asked for him to be given up to 11 weeks\u2019 jail, adding: \u201cThe accused intentionally misled the district court that he was a fit and proper surety who had the means to stand as surety for the bail bond and was the legal owner of the bail sum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe accused\u2019s offending was difficult to detect, given the use of formal and written loan agreements that provided a veneer of legitimacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Chua was represented by lawyer N. K. Anitha, who pleaded for her client to be given either a maximum fine of $5,000 or a week behind bars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The lawyer from Anitha and Asoka law firm said: \u201cChua did not play any role in the procurement of the lenders or arrangement of the bail monies&#8230; He was not motivated by avarice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cHe agreed to stand as surety for Ng because Ng was his son-in-law and he wished to help his daughter\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Chua\u2019s bail has been set at $5,000, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on April 27.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/nickel-scam-jail-for-man-who-was-ng-yu-zhis-surety-for-bail-despite-not-having-enough-cash-assets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 Even though he did not have enough cash or assets, the father-in-law of alleged nickel-trading fraudster\u00a0Ng Yu Zhi agreed to be Ng\u2019s surety&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45190,"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-45189","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\/45189","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=45189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}