Jail for man who duped contractors over fire-safety certification
A man was sentenced to two years and seven months’ jail on Sept 30 after duping the contractors of multiple buildings into believing that the cladding he sold them had fire-safety certification.
Cladding is used to cover the exteriors of buildings. In this case, aluminium composite panels (ACPs) were involved.
Benny Phua Chia Ping was convicted of cheating three companies – HB Glass and Aluminium, Mantec Holdings, and Nam Lee Pressed Metals – to which he had sold the cladding.
His offences had come to light after his then employer, Chip Soon Aluminium, was found to be linked to a 2017 building fire in Toh Guan Road that killed a woman.
The three companies were not involved in the blaze, but the prosecution told the court in earlier proceedings: “(The fatal incident) kicked off a chain of investigations by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) into the supplier of the ACPs installed there – Chip Soon Aluminium.”
Phua, 45, was a manager at Chip Soon at the time of the offences, and was convicted by District Judge Christopher Goh of five cheating charges after a trial.
Deputy public prosecutors Jiang Ke Yue and Alexandria Shamini Joseph stated in court documents that ACP is a popular material used for cladding on external walls.
It is also a fire-safety product regulated by the SCDF under the Product Listing Scheme to ensure safety, reliability and performance standards.
Under the Product Listing Scheme, an ACP supplier must obtain a fire-safety certificate of conformity (COC) from a company called TUV SUD PSB, before it can supply ACPs to be used as cladding.
The prosecution said that SCDF’s investigation into the fatal building fire pointed to the ACPs installed on the exterior as having contributed to the fire spreading up the building facade more rapidly.
Chip Soon was then ascertained to be the supplier of the panels.
The SCDF conducted an investigation because of concerns that other buildings which used Chip Soon’s ACPs might also be fire hazards. In the meantime, the police also looked into the company’s business.
The DPPs said that a police investigation revealed that between April 24 and June 20, 2013, Phua was directly involved in selling ACPs to HB Glass and Aluminium, Mantec Holdings and Nam Lee Pressed Metals.
HB Glass and Aluminium used Chip Soon’s panels for Temasek Polytechnic West Wing in Tampines Avenue 1.
Mantec Holdings used Chip Soon’s panels for the VDL Building in Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, while Nam Lee Pressed Metals used the panels in two three-storey ventilation buildings at the Marina Coastal Expressway.
The prosecution said: “SPF’s investigations determined that when the ACPs were ordered, Chip Soon did not have the required fire-safety certification for the panels supplied.
“The fire-safety certification had, in fact, been terminated on April 5, 2013, as it had failed two fire-safety tests.”
According to court documents, SCDF also collected samples of the ACPs installed on the exterior facade of each of the affected buildings. Investigations revealed the panels had failed to meet fire-safety requirements.
Phua was represented by lawyer Favian Kang and, according to his defence, did not know that a valid COC was required for the sale to take place under the Product Listing Scheme.
Phua still has a pending charge of performing a rash act. The pre-trial conference for this case will be held on Oct 24.
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