Ex-cop helped illegals evade arrest
Former police sergeant jailed, fined for obstructing course of justice and leaking police information
As a police officer, he was supposed to uphold the law and keep the country safe.
But when Hui Yew Kong was a police sergeant, he accessed police information to help a nightclub manager check if one of his employees was in police custody.
On another occasion, when another manager texted Hui during a police raid, he advised the manager to get his illegal waitresses out.
Hui, now 38, also acted as a bookmaker to receive football bets totalling $21,690.
He was jailed yesterday for 19 months and fined $60,000.
He pleaded guilty to one count each of intentionally obstructing the course of justice and committing an offence under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) when he handed over the police information.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of acting as a bookmaker involving $11,369.
A second count of intentionally obstructing the course of justice, five more charges of acting as a bookmaker involving $10,321 and two additional counts of offences under the OSA were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Hui, who became a police officer in 1998, had been attached to the Central Police Division lock-up since 2008.
In 2010, Hui got to know nightclub manager Jae Wee Wei-Ta as he was a regular at Mr Wee's club.
Mr Wee, who knew Hui was a policeman, called him on June 7, 2013, after finding out that an employee had not reported for work.
He asked Hui to check if the employee was in custody or was a wanted person.
Hui retrieved the information via a phone call to Tanglin Police Division. Even though he was not authorised to do so, he sent Mr Wee a text message saying that the employee was not wanted by the police and not in custody.
The court heard that since Jan 1, 2014, Hui also worked as a chief server at a nightclub known as Club de Colour on the ninth storey of Lee Kai House in Middle Road.
On Jan 9 that year, at around 11pm, police carried out an operation at the building to check on nightclubs and other similar businesses.
RAIDS
Samuel Lim Yong Choon, who was the general manager of Club Icon on the sixth storey, found out about the raids from a staff member of another club in Lee Kai House.
He sent Hui a text message to tell him about the operation about an hour later and the latter replied, advising him to remove his illegal employees from the premises before they could be arrested for immigration offences.
Lim instructed his bouncer to ask Club Icon's DJ to turn on the "no smoking" sign.
This was a prearranged signal to notify waitresses who had no proper work permits to leave the premises. About 10 of them managed to evade arrest after this.
Hui also acted as a bookmaker for football betting between April 16 and 24 that year.
For intentionally obstructing the course of justice, he could have been jailed up to seven years and fined.
And for acting as a bookmaker, he could have been jailed up to five years and fined up to $200,000 for each charge.
Lim, now 33, was sentenced to four weeks' jail yesterday for obstructing the course of justice.
The court gave him permission to surrender himself to the authorities on July 1 to begin his sentence.
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