SINGAPORE – Drinks stall owners at Tekka Food Centre are appealing for a new alcohol restriction to be rescinded, claiming it will affect their businesses.

Stallholders were sent letters by the police last Friday (July 22), informing them that from Aug 1, alcohol will only be allowed to be sold from 6am to 6pm on Sundays, instead of 6am to 11.59pm, as is currently the case.

The new restriction will affect 10 liquor licensees at the food centre.

“The Police have been closely monitoring the ground situation islandwide following the implementation of the Liquor Control Act in April 2015,” said the police, in response to queries from The Straits Times.

The police have received feedback on the congregation of alcohol drinkers at Tekka Food Centre on Sunday evenings, said the statement. “The large congregations of drinkers within confined areas pose law and order risks. This will also impact other patrons who visit the centre for dinner.”

The police also confirmed that they have received representations from some of the affected liquor licensees while one official appeal has been lodged with the Liquor Appeal Board.

Rowdy patrons as alcohol flows at Tekka hawker centre on weekends

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The New Paper

Stickers have been placed on tables at the food centre informing patrons about the change when The Straits Times visited the food centre on Wednesday (July 27).

Madam How Poh Tin, 60, owner of Zhong Guang Jiang Cold and Hot Drinks, said there are alot of foreign workers who visit for a drink between 7pm and 10pm.

“Sundays especially, because some of them have half day, so they will come here,” said Madam How. “With the alcohol ban, they won’t come here because there’s no drinking. That means we have no business. “We hope they overturn the ban, or at least extend it later. 6pm is really ridiculous.”

However, residents in the estate have welcomed the new ban.

Said Mr Raj Chinniah, 50: “When I’m home on Sundays, I don’t go down to the food centre, because I feel uncomfortable sitting there.”

This article was first published on July 27, 2016.
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The long-running Yang Yin saga took yet another twist on Wednesday (July 27), when the former tour guide “changed his mind” and decided not to plead guilty to misappropriating $1.1 million from an elderly widow.

The about-turn came less than three weeks after Yang had abruptly decided to plead guilty to two criminal breach of trust charges on the fifth day of the trial.

But in court on Wednesday morning, lawyer Irving Choh confirmed that Yang had once again changed his mind and decided to continue with the trial.

According to Lianhe Wanbao, he confirmed his decision not to plead guilty, saying: “There are still many pieces of evidence that we have yet to show.”

Yang is accused of misappropriating $500,000 and $600,000 from 89-year-old Madam Ching Khin Chun on two separate occasions.

He had at first told police that he used the $500,000 to buy a painting of a horse by renowned Chinese artist Xu Beihong. He later claimed that the half-a-million sum had been a “gift” to him from the elderly widow.

But earlier in the trial, the prosecution had presented an art expert as a witness, who testfied that the painting was a fake worth a paltry $200.

Meanwhile, he claimed that the second sum of $600,000 was purportedly to be used to open an art gallery in Hong Kong.

Tussle over widow’s $40m assets turns ugly

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The Straits Times, Madam Hedy Mok, Lianhe Wanbao, Madam Chang Phie Chin, Court Documents

On Wednesday, the prosecution’s final witness, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jane Lim took the stand.

According to Lianhe Wanbao, she told the court that Yang had given two differing accounts over how he had spent the $600,000 when he was interviewed by police in 2014.

He at first claimed that after taking out the $600,000, he had passed the cash to Madam Chung. But he later changed tune, saying that he had used the money to buy paintings.

DSP Lim also revealed that before the alleged misappropriations, Madam Chung had assets of about $2.74 million, comprising $950,000 in her bank account and $1.78 million in unit trusts in 2009.

However by August 2014, she was left with only $9,212 in her bank account, Wanbao reported.

Yang had been Madam Chung’s tour guide in Beijing in 2008. A year later, he moved in to stay with her in her Gerald Crescent bungalow.

By 2012, the childless widow had granted full control of her assets to Yang via a Lasting Power of Attorney. However, when she was diagnosed with dementia in 2014, her niece, Madam Hedy Mok, begun court proceedings against Yang.

He was charged with 349 criminal offences and pleaded guilty to 120 of these in May this year, including offences involving his permanent residency and falsification of receipts.

seanyap@sph.com.sg