Former Keppel Club employee admits to membership scam
Setho Oi Lin, the mastermind of the multimillion-dollar Keppel Club membership scam pleaded guilty to 60 counts of cheating. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The mastermind of the multimillion-dollar Keppel Club membership scam pleaded guilty on Monday (Dec 4) to 60 counts of cheating.
Over 11 years, Setho Oi Lin, otherwise known as Irene Setho, duped 1,341 people into paying a total of about $$37.5 million for non-existent memberships at the golf and country club.
Setho also had 3,121 other charges brought against her and these will be taken into consideration for sentencing purposes. They include other cheating offences relating to the membership fraud, as well as abetting in making false entries into the club’s electronic membership database.
Setho, who was personal assistant to the club’s general manager when she committed the offences, oversaw membership transfers and pocketed more than S$11 million from unsuspecting victims. The police froze five bank accounts — individual and joint accounts — that were in her name and suspected to contain the criminal proceeds.
The 113-year-old club, Singapore’s oldest, had 2,855 legitimate members as at August 2014. In 1996, it stopped issuing new memberships, but allowed existing members to sell their memberships. Seller and buyer need to agree on a price, which includes a S$12,000 fixed transfer fee, and an account activation fee of between S$300 and S$530 which will be paid to the club. The balance of the sum will go to the seller.
From 2004 to 2014, buyers each paid between S$26,500 and S$41,500 for “phantom” memberships.
Court documents showed that Setho started working at the club in 1966 and rose through the ranks. Some of the buyers who paid for the bogus memberships had called or approached her at the club. Others were introduced to her by membership agents.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Hon Yi told the court that Setho, as well as the agents, would inform the prospective buyers that there were club memberships available for transfer.
“(Setho) knew that, in truth, none of the memberships would be transferred from existing… members,” DPP Hon Yi said.
She and the agents would tell the buyers the price, as well as the name of the “sellers”, which included her co-accused and friend Ivy Cheo Soh Chin, Cheo’s daughter, mother and brother-in-law.
Cheo was instructed by Setho to deposit the money into various accounts, then to withdraw the money and hand the cash to Setho. Cheo would keep between S$500 and S$1,000 as commission.
Setho also instructed Nah Hak Chuah, a supervisor at the membership department, to create new membership accounts in an electronic database.
Cheo and Nah, both 67, admitted to their offences last month. Cheo pleaded guilty to 20 out of 303 counts of money laundering, while Nah admitted to 30 counts making false entries into the club’s electronic membership database. Nah faced 1,280 charges in total, court documents showed.
The police froze five bank accounts — individual and joint accounts — that were in Setho’s name and suspected to contain the criminal procceds.
Nah and Cheo will return to court on Jan 10 next year, while Setho’s next court hearing will be on Feb 9.
For cheating, Setho could be jailed up to 10 years and fined for each charge.
