Arrest warrant issued for ex-principal of tuition centre who helped students cheat in O-Level exams

SINGAPORE: A warrant of arrest has been issued for the former principal of a tuition centre who helped students cheat in their O-Level examinations.

The warrant was issued on Wednesday (Nov 23) after Poh Yuan Nie, 56, failed to turn up in court to begin her jail term for 27 counts of cheating.

Poh had been sentenced to four years' jail in 2020 after a long-running trial, but her appeal was dismissed only this week.

Poh's lawyer, Mr Peter Keith Fernando, discharged himself the same day the warrant was issued for Poh.

Poh was involved in the cheating case with two co-accused: Fiona Poh Min, who received three years' jail, and Feng Riwen, who was given two years and four months' jail.

The trio worked at the now-defunct Zeus Education Centre. They carried out a scheme for three examination papers in October 2016, with six students having devices strapped to their bodies and carefully concealed under layers of clothes.

A few hours before each exam, Fiona and Feng taped the devices on the students. During the exams, co-accused Tan Jia Yan, sat in as a private candidate and used FaceTime on her phone to livestream the question papers back to the tuition centre.

Fiona and Feng would then work on the questions and call the students to read the answers to them.

The ruse was uncovered when an invigilator heard unusual electronic transmission sounds and voices coming from one of the students.

Poh was labelled by the prosecution as the mastermind of the entire scheme.

As principal, she decided how the operation would be carried out and approved her co-accused's actions, overseeing the entire process on the day of examinations.

Of the four, Tan was the only one who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years' jail in 2019.

A review of Poh's arrest warrant was fixed on Jan 18.