by Elena Chong
LAWYER Tan Cheng Yew was convicted of two criminal breach of
trust and two cheating charges on Monday after a 16-day trial.
The 42-year-old one-time debater at the National University of
Singapore, who faced a total of six charges involving about $5.7
million, was arrested in Germany in 2009 after being on the run for
six years.
He was found guilty of misappropriating two sums of money - $1.5
million and $1.9 million - belonging to five members of a Tan
family in the way of his business as an attorney in 2001.
The prosecution's case was that he pledged the first amount as a
security for a personal loan facility from DBS, and the second sum
to his two bank accounts for his own use.
He was also convicted of cheating Mr Tommy Tan Kwee Khoon of
$480,000 in 2002 by deceiving him into believing that it was a
legal requirement in loan agreements for the borrowers to repay the
lender in the first year of the loan. Mr Tan was also deceived the
same year by Tan of $900,000. Tan claimed that he would invest the
amount with an Australian bank on his family's behalf for a better
interest rate.
The prosecution will inform the court later on of what it
intends to do with Tan's two other charges which have been stood
down.
