After two months of delays and frustration with troubled car dealer Royal Automotive, Ms Jenny Tay was promised a refund of more than $47,000. But to her dismay, the cheque bounced when she tried to deposit it on Monday.

Despite several calls and messages, she could not reach the boss of Royal Automotive.

To make matters worse, Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday that the lease of Royal Automotive’s Woodlands showroom will end this month.

When contacted by The New Paper yesterday, director of Royal Automotive, Mr Syed Khairil, 27, admitted it was facing cashflow issues, but insisted it was still in operation and was looking for a new location for its showroom.

WORKING CLOSELY

On the issue of the bounced cheque, he said it is working closely with the affected customer to resolve her issue as soon as it can.

Royal Automotive’s financial problems come even as its former employee, Chua Peng Jun, was charged in court today with criminal breach of trust.

TNP understands that at least 20 victims have made police reports against Royal Automotive.

Similarly, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) has received 20 complaints about the car dealer since July.

Executive director of Case, Mr Seah Seng Choon, said the number of complaints against parallel importers is not large, but it has seen more complaints recently.

Last week, Case told The Straits Times that it was considering whether it should flag Royal Automotive because of the number of complaints.

Mr Syed said he will be meeting over 40 customers this week to explain the situation to them.

He said: “We will try our best to help affected parties with the delivery of their cars, but we must operate in line with our legal obligations.

“We continue to be contactable at our office or through Facebook.”

Read also: Dealer who sold 27 cars at 2008 pasar malam hasn’t sold a car in 9 days

According to checks with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra), Royal Automotive was registered last November.

Two affected customers approached by TNP said they were attracted to Royal Automotive because of its lower prices, which are about $10,000 below the market rate.

Ms Tay, who declined to reveal her occupation, had booked a Honda Vezel in May.

She was supposed to get the car by the end of August after trading in her old car.

She said: “I was initially sceptical so I asked them to show me their other invoices. They had proof that they were able to deliver the cars.

“It is a lesson learnt. I will make sure that the car is in the showroom before putting down any money.”

A customer, who wanted to be known only as Melvin, 40, also admitted that he should have done more research.

He scrapped his old car in anticipation of a new Honda Vezel by mid-October.

He said: “I work in sales so I really need a car. But I already paid a deposit of $20,000 and I have no choice but to hope for the best.”

More dealers flagged recently

Several parallel importers have been flagged by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) in recent months.

Case’s latest alert on Nov 4 was on TLC Cars, located at Turf Club Road, which received eight complaints.

Most customers complained that they had made partial or full payment for the purchase of a car, but did not receive the car on the promised delivery date.

Consumers have also told Case that the business owner is uncontactable and that the premises of the business had been vacated.

On Oct 31, Case issued an alert about De Auto Boutique and Exodus Global, which received 41 complaints from January to last month.

The complaints were mainly about consumers paying a deposit (from about $5,000 to $30,000) to the company to secure the deal, but failing to receive the car on the promised delivery date.

SMALL NUMBER

Nonetheless, the number of complaints against parallel importers is small compared to the number of complaints about the motorcar industry.

In 2015, the industry had 2,907 complaints, the highest among all the industries, said Mr Seah Seng Choon, executive director of Case.

The majority of the complaints were about defective goods.

Mr Seah said: “Although the number of complaints against parallel importers is not large, we do see more recent complaints of such companies collecting deposits from consumers and either failing to honour the agreement or closing down and leaving consumers in the lurch.”

Mr Seah advised consumers to negotiate to pay as low a deposit as possible when purchasing a car and urged them to consider patronising CaseTrust-SVTA accredited motoring companies.

These businesses are committed to fair trading and have taken up a $50,000 insurance bond in the event of unresolved disputes.

Read also: Another car firm leaves buyers high and dry​

Car salesman charged with criminal breach of trust

A former sales representative of local parallel importer Royal Automotive was charged yesterday with misappropriating more than $400,000.

Malaysian Chua Peng Jun, 23, allegedly committed criminal breach of trust of the amount belonging to the importer between May 17 and Nov 9, reported The Straits Times Online.

He is believed to have collected sales deposits totalling $414,564 from customers and issued fake invoices to them.

A police statement on Monday said they had received several reports against a local car dealership company.

According to the reports, the dealer had failed to deliver automobiles to customers after receiving the sales deposits.

Ang Mo Kio police arrested the accused on Sunday. He will appear in court again on Nov 22.

If convicted, he can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined for criminal breach of trust as a servant.

Last Friday, Royal Automotive announced on Facebook that Chua was no longer working for it as a salesman.

linheng@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on November 16, 2016.
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A Swiss man who has lived in Singapore for the past six years was injured in a freak accident while on an open-top double-decker bus on Oct 29.

The New Paper understands that Mr David Vassart, who is in his late 20s, is a relationship manager and an assistant vice-president at Credit Suisse, a Swiss-based financial services company.

He was injured after he was hit on the head by an unknown object while standing on the upper deck of an open-top FunVee Wow Night Tour bus.

The double-decker bus is run by City Tours and takes passengers on tours of historic sites and museums.

The route starts at Gardens by the Bay, passes by Merlion Park and ends at Bugis Street.

Coma

TNP understands that Mr Vassart, who is from Geneva and married with a daughter, is in a coma and on life support at the Singapore General Hospital.

When contacted, a City Tours spokesman said the company had given details of the incident to the authorities and declined to comment further.

The Embassy of Switzerland also declined to comment.

One of Mr Vassart’s friends, who declined to be named, told TNP: “We were shocked when we heard about the accident a couple of days later. We’ve always known David to be a fun guy who likes to party.”

His LinkedIn profile said he moved to Singapore in 2010 to be an account manager with Credit Suisse.

This article was first published on November 16, 2016.
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Freak accidents and tragic deaths of famous people

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Video screengrabs, AFP, Reuters, The Straits Times, The New Paper, Handout

The High Court has quashed a moneylender’s bid to bankrupt a debtor who had borrowed $350,000 on an annual interest rate of 240 per cent – a ruling that could cause ripples in the moneylending industry.

Mr Ang Boon Kim, sole proprietor of ABK Leasing, had applied to bankrupt company director Goh Meng Leong, who in 2014 took out two unsecured loans totalling $350,000. Despite having paid back $700,000 – twice the principal sum – in instalments between December 2014 and September last year, Mr Goh still owed nearly $900,000.

That meant his initial $350,000 loan had grown to $1.6 million, including around $1.25 million in interest and late fees.

Mr Goh had agreed to interest of 240 per cent a year or 20 per cent monthly, with late interest at the same rate and a late fee of $10,000 every time payment was missed.

At issue in court was whether the moneylender could treat Mr Goh’s repayments as settling the interest first, rather than the principal borrowed. If so, the principal sum would continue to incur the 240 per cent interest. The court can also intervene if the interest is excessive and the deal is substantially unfair.

Assistant Registrar Jacqueline Lee set aside the bankruptcy application in the closed-door session and ordered Mr Ang to pay $1,500 in costs to Mr Goh.

It is understood she considered, among other things, that Mr Goh’s repayments should first be applied towards reducing the principal sum, and not just to satisfy the interest due.

ABK Leasing declined comment.

Both men had inked the contract before changes to the Moneylenders Act took effect on Oct 1 last year. The changes limit the maximum interest rate moneylenders can charge to 4 per cent a month, regardless of the borrower’s income.

Before then, such loan terms as the ones for Mr Goh were allowed for borrowers earning at least $30,000 a year. His maximum loan amount was also unlimited as his declared annual income of $599,250 was above the stipulated $120,000 threshold, according to papers filed through East Asia Law.

The loans were on “open monthly” terms, meaning the borrower could keep the loan open by opting to pay only the interest.

But Mr Goh’s lawyer, Mr Sarbrinder Singh of Sanders Law, pointed out that his client had already paid about $700,000 which went towards the payment of the $350,000 principal sum and the interest. He said ABK was wrong in claiming it was used only towards interest due.

He argued it was not for Mr Ang to unilaterally decide which payments were used to settle the principal sum and which for interest.

He urged the court to set aside the deal as the 240 per cent interest rates were “exorbitant”and the contract was ” unconscionable”.

Mr Goh, 36, who shuttles between Singapore and London for his business in electronic recycling, said he was relieved, having had to sell his HDB flat to settle the payments.

This article was first published on November 16, 2016.
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He fell at the same spot twice at Bishan MRT station.

The first time it happened last Friday, Mr Lim Chwee Leong, 64, sprained his hand while breaking his fall as he was going up the escalator at Exit D.

The next day, the retiree, who is divorced, fell again at the same escalator.

This time he hit his head and was severely injured.

His son, Mr Lim Ka Hock, 46, told The New Paper yesterday that his father has been unconscious in Tan Tock Seng Hospital since the accident.

The freelance contractor said: “After the first fall, he came home and told us about it. He even said he was lucky that he didn’t hit his head.

“Who would have expected him to fall again at the same place on Saturday?”

His father had to undergo an emergency operation immediately after the accident to remove a blood clot in his brain.

A passer-by had seen his father fall backwards and hit his head while getting on the escalator that was going up, said Mr Lim.

He got up and continued riding the escalator. But he fainted as soon as he got off.

Mr Lim said that his father’s girlfriend had informed the family about his accident. When she called his mobile phone around noon, someone at the hospital answered and told her that he had been injured.

Doctors at the hospital told the family that a blood vessel in the older Mr Lim’s brain had ruptured after the accident, and a blood clot had formed.

“They said they had to operate immediately because the blood clot was putting pressure on his brain. He is relatively stable now and has been taken off the life-support machine. All we can do now is to wait for him to wake up,” he said.

SELDOM LEAVES FLAT

Mr Lim said he was not sure why his father, who rarely leaves their Bishan flat, was at the MRT station.

He added that his father was taking medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. He had a heart attack 10 years ago.

“He is not very fit, especially because of his age, and might have fallen himself. What has happened has happened, and all we can do is pray that he gets well.

“To be honest, I am prepared for the worst.”

He said that his siblings would be meeting the doctors today to decide on their next course of action.

Mr Lim added that doctors told them that their father could be paralysed or remain in a vegetative state.

He hopes his father’s accident will remind others, especially the elderly, to be more careful when taking the escalator or stairs.

“It might be safer for people like my father to take the lift instead of the escalator as the speed might be too fast for them,” he added.

Mr Lim also said that an SMRT representative had visited his dad in hospital yesterday.

Replying to TNP’s queries, SMRT’s vice-president for corporate information and communications, Mr Patrick Nathan, said: “We are sorry this has happened. We are in touch with the family and providing assistance as best we can. The matter is being investigated.” A police spokesman said they were alerted to the incident at 11.34am on Saturday and found a 64-year-old man with head injuries.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the elderly man was taken unconscious in an ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Call to slow down escalators being evaluated

In August this year, a Public Transport Council report was released with recommendations to make rides more comfortable and less daunting for everyone, including families, seniors and wheelchair users.

One of the report’s key recommendations was the reduction of escalator speeds at train stations to give peace of mind to senior citizens who might be intimidated by fast-moving escalators.

In a report by The Straits Times on Aug 7, SMRT said it had been testing out slower escalator speeds at selected stations since July last year and was evaluating the possibility of reducing the speed of escalators at more MRT stations.

LOW NUMBER

The Land Transport Authority also said that from January to May this year, the number of escalator-related incidents at MRT stations “remained low” at 0.15 incident per one million riders, compared to 0.15 for 2014 and 0.14 for 2015.

This article was first published on November 16, 2016.
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