17/04/2013

Women, Sex and Singapore

Update 27 Jun 2016: 75 people arrested after police raids at massage parlours, public entertainment outlets

A total of 75 people were arrested in a 4-day enforcement blitz conducted by the police on unlicensed massage parlours and public entertainment outlets.

8 parlours and eight entertainment outlets located at Orchard Road, Upper Thomson Road, Upper Paya Lebar Road, and Balestier Road were raided between last Thursday (Jun 23) and Sun (Jun 26), police said in a news release.

The suspects - 66 women and nine men aged between 19 and 51 - were arrested for criminal and employment-related offences.

related: ONLINE PROSTITUTION

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20 women arrested in anti-vice blitz
A raid in the western region of Singapore led to the arrest of 89 people, including 39 women allegedly involved in prostitution-related activities

The police said on Thursday (Oct 8) that it arrested 20 women who are suspected to be involved in vice-related activities in the northern and western parts of Singapore.

In an operation from Oct 6 to Oct 7, officers from Jurong Division conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations including Woodlands, Admiralty, Bukit Batok and Jurong West.

They arrested the female suspects and also seized boxes of condoms, lubricants and mobile phones as case exhibits.

related: ONLINE PROSTITUTION

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Former SAF Lieutenant-colonel jailed for vice

He was one of 51 men who were charged in 2012 with having paid sex with a 17-year-old prostitute who was part of an online vice ring.

The other men involved in the high-profile case included a former school principal, a banker and a former naval engineer.

Not only was Thariyan convicted of the offence and jailed for five months, the contents in his phone also led to fresh investigations against him.

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Bangladeshi jailed 5 months for threat to send ex-lover's sex videos to family and friends

A Bangladeshi national filmed himself having sex with a married Singaporean woman, then threatened to send the explicit video clip to her friends and family.

On Tuesday (May 24), the 42-year-old man was sentenced to five months' jail after admitting to threatening the woman, aged 38, between March 27 and April 4 this year. He was initially scheduled to go for trial but changed his mind and pleaded guilty on Monday (May 23). Neither he nor the complainant can be named due to a gag order.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan David Lim said the pair were in an intermittent relationship from around 2007 to 2013. They broke up in 2014 and he returned to Bangladesh.


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Over 1,500 prostitutes sell their services on local website

A website that claimed to feature "Singapore's hottest babes" was revealed to be a site that allows visitors to "hook up" or purchase sexual services from over 1,500 prostitutes.

According to Lianhe Wanbao, the site, which claimed to be the "best site in Singapore" for information about the "hottest babes", masked its darker nature.

In fact, the site allows visitors to book and purchase sexual services from over 1,500 young prostitutes online, who operated out of flats in east, west, north and central Singapore.

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Special: Sex-for-business case

A 669-page record was whipped out in court yesterday as evidence in the ongoing sex-for-business case involving former IT executive Cecilia Sue and ex-Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) chief Ng Boon Gay.

It showed that the duo exchanged telephone calls and text messages at all hours of the day, with up to 33 messages being sent by one party to the other in one day.

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Steamy year for high-ranking Singapore men

FOR the second week running, alleged indiscretions of high-ranking men have been making the headlines in Singapore.

On Tuesday, it was former Central Narcotics Bureau director Ng Boon Gay’s turn in court. He is alleged to have used his position to gain sexual favours.

Ng is said to have obtained oral sex four times from Cecilia Sue Siew Nang, a sales manager seeking government contracts for information technology vendors.

His court date follows that of Peter Lim Sin Pang, the former Singapore Civil Defence Force commissioner who was charged with similar offences last week. Lim faces 10 counts of corruption involving sex with women executives seeking government contracts for their companies.

The duo are but the most recent examples of what has been a steamy year for high-ranking Singaporean men.

Indeed, Singapore has never had such a slew of sex scandals crop up around the same time.

In February, former Hougang MP Yaw Shin Leong was expelled from the Workers’ Party amid allegations of extramarital affairs.

In April, 48 men – including a school principal and those holding prominent positions in the private sector – were accused of having sex with an underaged prostitute in an online vice ring.

While the spotlight in the latest cases has mostly been trained on corruption, there are increased murmurings on the issue of promiscuity and sexual morality in Singapore.

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Women who seal the deal with sex

Are they greedy, pressured by competition or victims of a male-dominated business?

One former financial broker knows at least two financial instrument brokers who play the "sex for contracts" game: They get into the sack with corporate clients even though they have more-than-generous expense accounts with which to woo these clients.

With each swap going for an average of tens of millions of dollars, the payouts are temptingly high for those who manage to clinch the trade, the 35-year-old told TODAY.

But with very little to differentiate the services of one brokerage from another, some women brokers resort to sleeping with traders who may then pay them bigger commissions if they are happy with the "service", he said, describing the practice as "rife" within the profession.

A professional in the IT industry, which also sees stiff competition for multi-million-dollar contracts, knows of at least one peer in her circle who has gone to such lengths - usually as part of her after-dinner entertainment for the client.

According to the 38-year-old, who has been in the IT line for about 15 years, a mix of lucrative incentives and the pressure to deliver makes for powerful motivation.

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More outrage in Singapore over lax sentence for Australia man charged with molestation

SINGAPORE: There is a bit of confusion at the table. The four businesswomen, dressed immaculately in their suits from the day’s work in Singapore’s business district, are shocked.

With controversy surrounding the city-state’s business community using sex for deals, the recent sentencing of an Australian man for sexually assaulting a woman in the city has left these women angry.

“What else do we have to do to ensure our rights are upheld?” asked Cindy Xu, an executive working with a leading real estate company in the city. She told Bikyamasr.com that the ruling “is a disgrace for women in Singapore.”

The women were all shocked at the country’s court ruling that sentenced Australian national Paul Joseph Smith to 18 weeks in jail for sexually assaulting a woman at a farewell party on September 3 last year.

The court found him guilty of grabbing the breast of a 38-year-old IT consultant numerous times outside a restaurant in the city

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Jonathan Wong expelled from University of York following child porn offences
A HISTORY student on a £90,000 government scholarship has been expelled from the University of York for child porn computer offences.

Jonathan Wong’s studies were financed by the Ministry of Education in Singapore so that he could become a teacher in his home country.

Now he faces a premature return in disgrace to the south-east Asian state with his life in ruins.

At York Crown Court yesterday his barrister, Nick Worsley, said Wong was likely to be looking for work as a labourer while his parents sold their house to pay back his scholarship.

Wong was given a six-month jail term suspended for two years, and was instantly expelled by the university.

Mr Worsley said: “He was a potential high-flier. He has been brought low by his own actions.” 

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Former MOE scholar charged with underage sex

A former teaching scholar who was found with child pornography while studying in the UK has been charged with underage sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Jonathan Wong, 25, faces 10 charges in total, including seven counts of having sex with a minor, and three charges of committing indecent acts.

Wong had been caught for possessing child pornography while he was an undergraduate at the University of York in Dec 2010. Police had found 50 videos in his computer's hard drive, with half depicting hardcore scenes. Some of the graphic videos featured girls as young as six.

But the former Hwa Chong student was given a six-month sentence suspended for two years, which means he would not have to face jail time if he does not re-offend within two years. 

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Benedict Ang Yong Chuean Committed Indecent Acts

Navy Lieutenant (LTA) Benedict Ang Yong Chuean, An international student at the Australian Defence Force Academy, was charged with two counts of indecency without consent.

The Sword of Honor recipient allegedly entered the room of a female cadet on May 6 and committed the act.

It’s the latest in a string of legal headaches for the academy, in which three other cadets have been brought before Canberra courts on unrelated matters since April 2011.

Ang, a Singaporean national and member of his nation’s defence force, has moved off campus to stay in Canberra with a senior officer. 

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Former prosecutor charged with underaged sex with Vietnamese prostitute
He allegedly paid $300 for sexual services from a Vietnamese girl on July 19 last year at Four Chain View Hotel at 757, Geylang Road Lorong 39.

Gwee is out on $10,000 bail and his passport has been impounded. He will be back in court again on July 27.

If convicted, he can be jailed up to seven years or fined or both.
He is the last of a total of 11 men who have been charged in relation to a vice syndicate operated by a couple in Geylang.

The couple managed women from Vietnam who were flown into Singapore to work as prostitutes. (See report below.)

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Swiss national to claim trial in online vice trial
He faces two charges of having paid sex with a Singaporean girl who was 17 years old at the time of the offence in late 2010 and early 2011.

He was placed in remand on April 18 after being charged in a district court along with 47 other men. Nine of these men have either pleaded guilty or indicated they will not claim trial.

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Sex and the Singapore city


Sex is hardly in the minds of the average Singaporeans as they are too busy working

What does sex got to do with real estate in Singapore? Plenty. Having sex (read: procreating and getting married) means eligible Singaporeans get a head start in buying a property in terms of government grants amounting up to S$40, 000 (US$31, 531). That amount is quite a lot bearing in mind Singapore has one of the highest property prices and the top ten most expensive city to live in the world.

But what if you are single by default? Then, buying a property would be very challenging unless you hold a high paying job. Singapore’s housing policies are structured around a wholesome mission that assumes everyone will eventually get married. While I understand the government’s objective of implementing such policies, I do think this is flawed and penalises singles unfairly.

Currently, the only form of government grants singles are eligible is S$15, 000 (US$11, 831) when they buy a resale public flat. It used to be S$5, 000 (US$3, 944) but has been revised upwards as resale flats have gone up by a whopping 90 per cent since the fourth quarter of 2005.

Therefore, there are well-educated singles who fall into what I call the “sandwiched class”. They earn too high a salary to qualify for a government grant but find buying a private apartment out of their budget.

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In Singapore, three plead guilty in under-age sex scandal as anger remains

SINGAPORE and KUALA LUMPUR: Three more accused in a Singapore under-age sex scandal will plead guilty to the charges, court officials confirmed to Bikyamasr.com on Tuesday late afternoon.

In the latest development involving some 48 men charged with paying for sex to an under-age sex worker, three men pleaded guilty to the charges, their lawyers revealed.

The three men are Tan Wee Kiat, 39, a former police superintendent; Goh Wee Seong, 34, a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) technician, and Ng Guan Mean, 37, the former director of a finance company.

Ng has quit his job, and Goh has been suspended by the SAF.
The next court session will be July 30.

One man, Lee Lip Hong, the now ousted principal of Pei Chun Public School, pleaded guilty to the charges and received a light 9 week jail term, much to the outrage of women’s rights activists in the country.

The scandal has sparked debate in the country, where businessmen and government officials were involved in the under-age sex ring.

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Foreign doc charged with molesting nurse during an operation

A SRI Lankan doctor working at the Changi General Hospital (CGH) was charged in Court yesterday (2 Jul) with three counts of touching the buttocks of a nurse in the operating theatre.

Senaka Liyanage, a University of Colombo graduate, is accused of touching the 26-year-old’s buttocks between 11am and noon on April 5 while an operation was going on. He was part of a team of doctors performing the operation on a patient that day.

The alleged victim reported the doctor to a senior nurse who then brought the matter to the nursing director.

Liyanage is believed to have joined the hospital in 2010 and is a specialist with the anaesthesia and surgical intensive care. In response to media queries, CGH said Liyanage is still employed by the hospital. He is currently working in clinical research, which is a “non-patient care role”, said CGH.

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Man involved in online nude video extortion scam pleads guilty

The man who masterminded an Internet love scam pleaded guilty and was convicted of the charges today.

22-year-old Soh Zhi Ren Alexander was charged with the online extortion scam in February, along with his then-girlfriend, Yap Siew Ting, now 17.

The pair extorted S$150,000 from a 22-year-old man and attempted to extort S$10,000 from a 24-year-old man. They threatened to upload nude videos of the men if they did not pay up. The 22-year-old victim made 89 fund transfers amounting to S$97,350 before he finally made a police report.

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S'pore sex for favours: DIARY OF ENCOUNTERS AND DETAILS OF THE WOMEN
S;pore sex for favours: DIARY OF ENCOUNTERS AND DETAILS OF THE WOMEN

The three women who had requested for sexual favours from the former chief of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) have been named in various reports. However, their identities have not been confirmed yet.

According to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), Peter Benedict Lim Sin Pang is charged with corruptly obtaining sexual gratification on a total of ten occasions from two female vendors and one potential female vendor to the SCDF in return for tenders on IT-related contracts.

If found guilty, the three women may also be charged. According to Lianhe Wanbao, lawyer Amolat Singh said that the women involved have also broken the law, and are likely to be charged. They face either a fine of up to $100,000 or a maximum jail term of five years, or both.

Lim has not made any plea yet. If he pleads guilty, he is likely to only face three charges, according to reports. The other seven charges will be taken into consideration during his sentencing.

The three charges are for accepting sexual offers on May 2, 2010 with Pang Chor Mui; on October 18 to 21,2011 with Lee Wei Hoon; and on April 20, 2011 with Esther Goh Tok Mui.

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Businessman pleads guilty to sex with minor in Singapore

A prominent Singapore businessman on Wednesday pleaded guilty to having sex with an underage prostitute in a scandal which has shaken the city-state’s elite.

Howard Shaw, 41, a grandson of Asian movie mogul Runme Shaw and a former environmental activist, was charged in April for having paid sex with a 17-year-old call girl in October 2010.

Prostitution is legal in Singapore, but 48 men ranging in age from their early 20s to late 40s have so far been charged under a 2008 law making it a crime to pay for sex with a woman under 18.

The list includes businessmen, civil servants and uniformed officers and the maximum sentence is seven years in prison and a fine.

“I plead guilty, your honour,” a haggard-looking Shaw told Judge See Kee Oon during a hearing of his case at a district court.

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Singapore ex-top cop faces sex-for-favours charges

The former head of the Singapore police's drug enforcement unit was charged Tuesday with corruption for soliciting sexual favours in exchange for help with contracts, court documents showed.

Ng Boon Gay, 46, former director of the Central Narcotics Bureau, appeared in a district court accused of "corruptly" obtaining "sexual gratification... from one Cecilia Sue Siew Nang" on four occasions, a charge sheet read. He is the second high-ranking civil servant to face prosecution on sex-for-business charges in a week after similar accusations were filed against former civil defence chief Peter Lim last Wednesday.

According to the charges against Ng, he had oral sex with Sue four times, twice when she was a sales manager with Hitachi Data Systems Pte Ltd and twice when she worked for Oracle Corporation Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Defense chief hit on sex for favors

The former head of the Singapore Civil Defence Force was yesterday charged with accepting sex for favors in the most serious corruption case involving senior government officials in almost 20 years.

Peter Lim "is accused of having corruptly obtained sexual gratification from two female vendors and one potential female vendor to the defense force on 10 occasions between May 2010 and November 2011," said a spokesman for the city- state's anti-corruption agency.

Lim's corruption case is the most serious involving a senior official in Singapore since 1993, when Yeo Seng Teck, at the time the chief executive of the Trade Development Board, was investigated for offenses dating from 1988.

In February, Lim, along with Central Narcotics Bureau director Ng Boon Gay, was replaced as they were being investigated.

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Women in cases may be charged


RazorTV interviewed Singaporeans for their thoughts on the video, and most said that they found it inappropriate more than educational.

Started by a foreign couple based in Hong Kong the site has released nine videos to date.

Though it made waves online with many netizens calling for more videos, Singaporeans found the use of scantily clad models demeaning to women and the language.

One interviewee said that video was " quite obscene and it is only making use of lust."

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Singapore Man Jailed for Underage Sex and Burglary

An unemployed Singapore man was jailed for three-and-a-half years on Friday for having sex with a minor, breaking and entering and theft.

Zulkifri Said, 23, admitted to having sex on two occasions with a 13-year-old girl.

He also admitted breaking into the Calvary Bible Presbyterian Church in Toa Ching Road with Muhammad Herwan Abdul Hamzah, 22, on March 4 this year and stealing property totaling $1,470. Herwan was sentenced to two-and-a-half years.

A district court heard that Zulkifri and the underage victim came to know each other via Facebook in 2010. They became a couple not long after, and were in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship for eight months.

But they remained friends, and would occasionally meet each other.

Sometime between Nov. 2010 and February last year, they met and had sex on a staircase landing at a Housing Board block in Toa Payoh.

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Singapore man given 5-years over sex traffickin

KUALA LUMPUR: A Singapore court has sentenced lawyer Spencer Gwee Hak Theng to five years in prison for his role in a human trafficking sex ring in the country involving Vietnamese women. It is the latest sentence against the man for his participation in illegal human trafficking and sex work

According to the court, he and his wife, Ngo Tien, of Vietnamese decent, imported women from Vietnam to work in Singapore as sex workers.

Police arrested the couple last August after discovering some 30 women who were working in the sex industry in the city-state in Joo Chiat and Geylang.

A number of the girls rescued were under 18-years-old and had been forced into the business by the Singapore-Vietnam couple.

Seng faced four charges of harboring sex workers, four counts of receiving them at Changi Airport, four counts of living in part on earnings of sex work, two counts of abetting to obtain commercial sex with minors and one count of managing a place where the sex workers were assigned.

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Names of 48 men charged for sex with underage prostitute

48 men have been charged in court for paying for sex with an underage prostitute. Another 14 are under probe.

The accused include civil servants, high flyers in the finance industry, and other notable figures.

80 men have been implicated in the case. More charges are expected to be filed.

The following is a list of 44 men who have been charged with having commercial sex with a person under 18 years of age. Those found guilty can be jailed up to seven years and fined.

The youngest accused is 21 years old, and the oldest is 48. The accused include a former police superintendent, military officers, a lawyer, businessmen and other professionals.

One businessman, Foo Kim Meng, 45, allegedly had paid sex with the girl at least four times, the most among the 44 men..............

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Online vice ring: Three more plead guilty

Three of the men in the online vice case have indicated that they will plead guilty.

This is the latest development in the case where 48 men were charged for having paid sex with an underage prostitute.

The three men are Tan Wee Kiat, 39, a former police superintendent; Goh Wee Seong, 34, a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) technician, and Ng Guan Mean, 37, the former director of a finance company.

Ng has quit his job, and Goh has been suspended by the SAF.
So far, nine men have not claimed trial.


The case will be mentioned in court again on July 30, when Howard Shaw returns to court.

Shaw, 41 the former executive director of the Singapore Environment Council and the grandson of Shaw Organisation founder Runme Shaw pleaded guilty, but his lawyer is asking for a sentence that does not involve jail time.

The first man in this case to plead guilty was Lee Lip Hong, 38, the former principal of Pei Chun Public School. Lee was sentenced to nine weeks' jail.

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Ex-Pei Chun principal released from prison

The former principal of Pei Chun Public School, Lee Lip Hong, was released from Changi Prison today.

He was sentenced to nine weeks' jail in April for having paid sex with an underage girl.

The 39-year-old served six weeks' jail and was released early for good behaviour.

Mr Lee is the first among 48 men to be sentenced in the online vice ring case.

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related:
Geylang Isn’t What It Used to Be
Geylang, the final frontier
An Undercurrent Of Fear In Geylang
Where sleaze and food coexist
Sex in the city drags you down
Women, Sex and Singapore
Police raids massage parlours & public entertainment outlets
Crime, Corruption, Scandal & Professional Misconduct 3
Crime, Corruption, Scandal & Professional Misconduct 2
Crime, Corruption, Scandal & Professional Misconduct 1
Paying high salaries to mitigate corruption
Maintaining Standards of our Civil Service