Man fined S$12,000 for opening KTV outlet during Phase 1 of Singapore's reopening amid COVID-19

SINGAPORE: During Phase 1 of Singapore's reopening, when certain businesses were still not allowed to operate due to COVID-19, a man opened his KTV lounge to customers.

Leow Keng Chun, 39, was fined S$12,000 on Thursday (Nov 5) after pleading guilty to three charges of failing to ensure his premises were closed to entry, supplying liquor within a liquor control zone when he had no authorisation and providing public entertainment without a valid licence. 

The court heard that Leow was the occupier and operator of DRINKITUP, a KTV outlet in Jalan Besar. Police officers conducting enforcement checks found Leow in the building at 11pm on Jun 5 this year.

Leow admitted there were five other people in his KTV outlet and shouted for them to open the door, but no one responded.

An officer proceeded to break a glass panel next to the door and unlocked it, finding five people inside: Three Singaporean men aged between 25 and 39 and two Vietnamese women aged 19 and 24.

Two of the men were customers who had reserved a room to sing and drink alcohol, arriving at 9.30pm that day and entering via the shuttered back entrance with Leow's help.

The two women were hostesses who waited for the men in the room, while the third man was the main tenant of the building and was in another room at the time.

The two customers ordered beer towers, drank, played dice games and sang with the hostesses, intending to tip them S$200 each for their companionship at the end of the night.

Leow paid monthly rent to the third man. He was aware that he was not the licensee of the outlet and did not have a valid public entertainment nor liquor licence to operate it.

He also knew that the outlet, classified as a non-residential premise, was not allowed to operate due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Despite this, Leow opened his lounge for business from Jun 2, 2020, took bookings and did not enforce the wearing of masks.

READ: Woman fined for letting customer into her salon for massage and masturbation during COVID-19 circuit breaker

The prosecutor sought a fine of at least S$13,000, making reference to the case of Jin Yin, who was fined S$22,000 for similar offences including operating her beauty salon during the "circuit breaker" period and had provided illegal sexual services.

She said Leow's breach was more severe than Jin's, where only one customer was present, as he allowed the two customers and two hostesses to be together in the same room for one-and-a-half hours before the police arrived.

"No precautionary measures were taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amongst them and in fact they were singing and playing games in close physical proximity to each other, which increases the risk of transmission of the virus," said the prosecutor.

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