Singaporeans on the run: 18 on Interpol's wanted list
There are 18 Singaporeans on Interpol's wanted list, four more than last year. The New Paper looks at some of these Singaporeans on the run, and the crimes that led them there.
Siak Lai Chun, 52
Wanted by Singapore for unstated charges
The former bank executive, has been on Interpol's list for nearly two decades for allegedly stealing $18.7 million from her bank using fake cashiers' orders. She fled after her scam was exposed in December 1997.
Harender Kaur, 58
Wanted by India for cheating and criminal conspiracy
Andrew Ang, 39
Wanted by the US for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud
Muhammad Ridzuan Johan, 33
Wanted by Singapore for murder
A bar brawl in 2007 led to the death of a deliveryman at a disco on Fullerton Road.
Mr Lim Chye Huat, 35, had been having drinks with his friends at a disco called Babyface when they decided to leave at about 5.30am. On the way out, they ran into a large group at the lift lobby and a brawl started where Mr Lim was fatally hurt.
He later died at the Singapore General Hospital.
So far, 12 people in the group have been dealt with but Muhammad Ridzuan, who worked as a bouncer, remains at large.
Wilson Raj Perumal, 49
Wanted by Singapore for using criminal force on a public servant, causing hurt by a rash act, driving without a valid licence, driving without insurance
In May 2009, Wilson Raj Perumal hurled himself against an auxiliary police officer and injured the officer by hitting him as he drove off in his car. During the incident, he was also driving without a licence or valid insurance.
He was sentenced to five years of corrective training, given his 13 previous offences of theft and fixing football matches that date back to 1983.
He appealed against the sentence and was out on $80,000 bail. Wilson Raj absconded during this time .
Since 2012, he has been a prosecution witness for match fixing trials in Hungary. But in April 2014, he was arrested in Finland on immigration offences, and was convicted. He was returned to Hungary under European Union laws.
This was despite the Singapore Government making a request for him to be extradited here.
Faidhil Mawi, 29
Wanted by Singapore for murder
Neo Soon Joo, 43
Wanted by Singapore for robbery and kidnapping
A former cabby, Neo masterminded the 2008 kidnapping of a 60-year-old woman, her two-year-old granddaughter and their 23-year-old maid.
When the trio returned to their Braddell Heights home in the woman's red BMW, Neo and his accomplice ran into the driveway and held them at knifepoint.
Neo's accomplice drove the women to a bank in Hougang where she withdrew $50,000 and gave it to him.
His accomplice, who had followed in his own taxi, dropped Neo off at the Woodlands Checkpoint and he fled to Malaysia.
Goh Seow Keng, 68
Wanted by China for contract fraud
A 1994 report stated that local construction company Rebar (Group) Development would be building a $124 million retail, residential and office project in Suzhou, China.
The group, comprising of 18 companies, was headed by William Goh Seow Keng.
It is unclear what led to him being put on Interpol's list.
David Khong Siak Meng, 47
Wanted by Singapore for criminal breach of trust
He ran away with $68,000 of clients' money in August 2007. Formerly a sole proprietor, he joined law firm Sim & Wong in Raffles Place in June 2007.
Khong, believed to have debts, ran away one weekend after sending an e-mail to the firm apologising for what he had done.
Koh Kian Tiong, 42
Wanted by Singapore for investigations by the CPIB
Koh was an assistant superintendent with the police in charge of the Secret Societies Branch of the Criminal Investigations Department.
He was among 10 police officers illegal gambling outlet operator Chua Chin Hoe bribed, giving them cash and regularly entertaining them at a KTV pub on Aliwal Street.
The officers knew that Chua was running an illegal gambling operation.
In 2012, Chua was sentenced to 4½ years' jail and fined $20,000. Koh has been on the run since.
Gong Chin Ong, 48
Wanted by China for illegal business operation
It is unclear what landed Gong in trouble in China but he had a previous conviction in Singapore. In 1996, he was fined $20,000 after being charged under the Securities Industry Act. As a former investment manager with American Express Bank, he had moved his client's shares around without permission.
Tan Khi Wie, 47
Wanted by Singapore for cheating
A former managing director of local consultancy firm Draco, Tan was sentenced to 18 months' jail in 2002 for inflating consultancy charges while applying to Spring Singapore for a grant.
The permanent resident had inflated the consultancy charges by $195,000.
David Rasif, 50
Wanted by Singapore for misappropriating money
The lawyer ran off with $11.3 million of his clients' money in 2006, and was long gone before anyone discovered the extent of his crimes.
In 2010, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) here was able to recover $6.4 million in cash and gold both here and abroad.
Cops had reportedly been able to track down the transfers of large sums of money from accounts operated by Rasif. A lawyer said the bank accounts were in Hong Kong.
CAD had also been able to seize 40 of the 47 gold bars that Rasif had bought for $1.65 million in June 2006.
The biggest claimant against Rasif is an American couple, Mr George Raymond Zage III and his wife Kaori Kathleen. The couple entrusted $11 million to Rasif's firm for the purchase of a property and lost all of it.
Tan Keng Heng, 70
Wanted by Singapore for murder
The former odd-job worker was part of a group that fatally stabbed a man in a wet market in Toa Payoh Lorong 1 in 2001.
Tan Keng Heng, Neo Eng Hwee and Eng Bak Siong confronted a man one of their friends claimed had cheated him. A scuffle broke out. Eng thrust a knife into the abdomen of a man who later died from his injuries in hospital.
All three men fled to Malaysia where Eng was arrested last year for immigration offences by the Malaysian authorities. He was extradited to Singapore in July 2013, and was last year jailed seven years for causing grievous hurt.
- Clarence Lee Kok Leong, 41
Wanted by Denmark for misappropriation of funds and fraud
- Ow Song Suah, 53
Wanted by Czech Republic for fraud
- Sng Swee Lee, 66
Wanted by Indonesia for kidnapping
- Tan Siong Nai, 59
Wanted by Malaysia for cheating
They thought client was just late
They were the lawyers representing Wilson Raj Perumal in 2009.
Previously convicted for theft and match-fixing, Wilson Raj then faced five years of corrective training for attacking an auxiliary police officer, hitting the man with his car and driving without a licence or insurance.
When their client did not show up, lawyers Sunil Sudheesan and the late Subhas Anandan thought he was late for court. They then grew increasingly annoyed, thinking their client did not have the courtesy to call.
"After a while, you start to realise that maybe he has run," said Mr Sunil.
He added that the lawyers called their colleagues who were in the office and asked them to try to get hold of Wilson Raj.
"The calls went unanswered and you think to yourself, 'That's it, he's run'," Mr Sunil said.
"We then had to look through our records about when we last met him, what our last contact was. And you tell the judge everything you know."
On Singapore's most wanted list
Wang Xin
Nationality: Chinese
Crime: Bribery
Wanted for nearly two years for match-fixing, Wang, the general manager of a Chinese football team, was arrested in China on similar charges in 2009. He was supposed to show up in court in 2008 to face 25 charges of match-fixing. He did not appear and was put on Interpol's wanted list.
Loo Soon Aik
Nationality: Malaysian
Crime: Murder
Following the murder of a money courier at The Arcade in Raffles Place in 2012, police were looking for Loo to assist in investigations. Loo often visited the mobile phone shops at The Arcade and was close to the courier. He left Singapore soon after the courier's murder.
Djatmiko Febri Iswansyah
Nationality: Indonesian
Crime: Murder
He is wanted by the police to assist in investigations of the murder of production technician Dexmon Chua Yizhi. Chia Kee Chen, 54, and co-conspirator Chua Leong Aik, 65, have been charged with Mr Chua's murder.
Harvinder Singh
Nationality: Indian
Crime: Murder
The dismembered body of Harvinder Singh's wife was found floating in the Whampoa River in December 2013. Investigations revealed that he had left Singapore 30 minutes before her body was discovered and police are still looking for him for investigations.
A 25-year-old forklift driver who had been charged with the woman's murder had earlier been granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on the murder charge, but on Thursday, he pleaded guilty to two other charges.
Guiga Lyes Ben Laroussi
Nationality: Tunisian
Crime: Drug-trafficking
Laroussi was nabbed in a high-profile drug bust in October 2004 and charged with drug trafficking.
He was released on bail of $280,000 but vanished in February 2005, a day before he was due to show up in court.
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