Boss jailed for telling door-to-door fire extinguisher salesmen what to say to police probing sales tactics

SINGAPORE: He knew that members of the public had made complaints against his salesmen, who were going door to door selling fire extinguishers, over their deceptive sales practices.

And when the police began looking into his employees' conduct, the sole proprietor of Fire Safety & Prevention (SG) instructed them in a group chat to give identical likely false accounts to investigation officers as he did not want business to be affected.

Kelvin Tan Yaosheng, a 43-year-old Singaporean, was jailed for a week on Thursday (Aug 29) for one count of obstructing justice. A second similar charge was taken into consideration.

The court heard that Tan's employees had practised deceptive sales tactics when selling the extinguishers.

When the men went door to door, they would use one or more of these tactics.

These included telling residents that they were engaged by a public body or community centres in Singapore, that the residents would get a discount if they had PAssion cards as the salesmen were working with the People's Association, and that the fire extinguishers were priced at S$17.90 (US$13.80).

In truth, these were lies. The extinguishers actually cost S$179 each, and none of the salesmen were working with any public body.

Tan received multiple complaints from members of the public about the tactics his salesmen were using.

In May 2019, a customer complained that an employee had sold them a fire extinguisher said to cost S$17.90, but the customer was later charged S$179.

Another customer made the same complaint a month later.

In November 2019, Tan was made aware that another person had made a police report with the same complaint.

The police received several reports over the deception by Tan's employees in pushing sales of the extinguishers.

They called Tan and his employees in separately to assist with investigations. Tan was one of the first to be called and went for an interview with the police on Mar 4, 2020.

Shortly after giving his statement that day, Tan sent a message to a WhatsApp group chat he had with his employees.

He told them that investigation officers may call them down for investigations, and instructed them on what to say if the police interviewed them.

They were to state that they sold each fire extinguisher for S$179, that this was the price that they had always given to customers, that they never quoted a price of S$17.90, and that they always got customers to sign on invoices first to let them know the price was S$179 before collecting payment.

Tan knew that there were many complaints against his employees, and that the account he instructed his employees to give to the police was likely false.

Tan also ensured that all his employees acknowledged his messages with instructions to them. The employees understood that Tan was asking them to align their statements with his.

One of the employees, Chai Ri Jou, later admitted to the police that he had gone along with Tan's account instead of the truth as Tan was his boss.

Chai was jailed for two weeks for cheating.

In June 2020, officers from the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) called Tan in to assist with their investigations over the same issue.

Tan found out that CCCS was also calling up his employees, so he asked them to delay their interviews until after he had done his so that he could tell them what CCCS would ask.

Tan similarly instructed them to give the same account to CCCS. This constitutes the charge taken into consideration for his case.

CCCS published an advisory in 2020 alerting consumers to the unfair practices of fire extinguisher suppliers, including Fire Safety & Prevention (SG).

SENTENCING ARGUMENTS

Deputy Public Prosecutor Louis Ngia sought one to two weeks' jail for Tan, saying he had crafted a narrative for his employees and instructed them to "uniformly lie to the police".

While the amount involved is low, the employees' cheating offences involved deceiving victims into believing they were engaged by a public body or working with the People's Association.

This impugned the public's confidence in public administration in Singapore, said Mr Ngia.

Tan was represented by Mr Navin Naidu and Mr Manfred Lum from Dentons Rodyk & Davidson, who sought a fine instead.

In sentencing, District Judge Kok Shu-En said she accepted the defence's point that Tan was not a typical offender who was trying to cover up his own misconduct.

She also accepted that he did not have full or direct knowledge of the deceptive sales practices.

However, Judge Kok said it seemed to her that Tan "was not particularly concerned" about what the truth was, even though he had received complaints from customers.

His greater concern was that the police should receive a version of events that would benefit him, said the judge.

She said Tan had not only instructed one employee but the entire group, making this an attempt to interfere with investigations "at scale".

She said there was "nothing altruistic" about his conduct, and that he was motivated entirely by his own concerns.

For obstructing justice, he could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.