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Today's article in the Straits Times, pg B6 (September 18, 2010)
When another person's credit card arrived in his letter box by mistake, Fabian Michael Chiu Toh Hui used it to buy a pair of ROLEX watches costing $12,000, instead of reporting the matter.
Yesterday, the 48-year-old was sentenced to four weeks' jail for cheating. The unemployed man, who is an undischarged bankrupt, is out on $15,000 bail pending his appeal against the sentence.
Chiu pleaded guilty last month to deceiving a staff member at Lucky Watch Palace in People's Park Complex into believing that he was the rightful owner of the OCBC Visa credit card presented by his girlfriend for the watches in April 2008. The card, however, belonged to a Mr Liby Thomas.
A second charge of misappropriating the credit card was taken into consideration.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang had told the court that Mr Thomas, then 35, had applied for the OCBC Platinum card in April that year but never received it. Instead, the credit card was inadvertently sent to Chiu's unit within the same complex in Grange Road.
She said that on April 23, Chiu and his girlfriend went to the establishment in Park Road to buy a pair of ROLEX watches costing $12,000. The girlfriend took the credit card from Chiu's wallet to make payment for the items. Chiu signed Mr Thomas' name on the charge slip.
The watches have since been recovered.
Arguing for a jail term, DPP Huang said it did not matter how Chiu had come into possession of the card. "Such offences relating to credit cards, whether they are stolen or misappropriated, offend the integrity of the financial system in Singapore," she said.
Chiu's lawyer Yoga Sharmini had asked for a fine, saying her client was remorseful and suffering from adjustment disorder. She said the divorcee lost his job in 2005, and subsequently could not service his housing loan and was made bankrupt.
Chiu could have been jailed for up to three years and/or fined for cheating.
When another person's credit card arrived in his letter box by mistake, Fabian Michael Chiu Toh Hui used it to buy a pair of ROLEX watches costing $12,000, instead of reporting the matter.
Yesterday, the 48-year-old was sentenced to four weeks' jail for cheating. The unemployed man, who is an undischarged bankrupt, is out on $15,000 bail pending his appeal against the sentence.
Chiu pleaded guilty last month to deceiving a staff member at Lucky Watch Palace in People's Park Complex into believing that he was the rightful owner of the OCBC Visa credit card presented by his girlfriend for the watches in April 2008. The card, however, belonged to a Mr Liby Thomas.
A second charge of misappropriating the credit card was taken into consideration.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang had told the court that Mr Thomas, then 35, had applied for the OCBC Platinum card in April that year but never received it. Instead, the credit card was inadvertently sent to Chiu's unit within the same complex in Grange Road.
She said that on April 23, Chiu and his girlfriend went to the establishment in Park Road to buy a pair of ROLEX watches costing $12,000. The girlfriend took the credit card from Chiu's wallet to make payment for the items. Chiu signed Mr Thomas' name on the charge slip.
The watches have since been recovered.
Arguing for a jail term, DPP Huang said it did not matter how Chiu had come into possession of the card. "Such offences relating to credit cards, whether they are stolen or misappropriated, offend the integrity of the financial system in Singapore," she said.
Chiu's lawyer Yoga Sharmini had asked for a fine, saying her client was remorseful and suffering from adjustment disorder. She said the divorcee lost his job in 2005, and subsequently could not service his housing loan and was made bankrupt.
Chiu could have been jailed for up to three years and/or fined for cheating.
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