Jail for man who duped firms over fire safety certification of cladding

A man was sentenced to two years and seven months' jail on Sept 30 after duping the contractors of multiple buildings into believing that the cladding he sold them had fire safety certification.

- Shamq Alkhatib

Cladding is used to cover building exteriors. In this case, aluminium composite panels (ACPs) were involved.

Benny Phua Chia Ping was convicted of cheating three companies - HB Glass and Aluminium, Mantec Holdings, and Nam Lee Pressed Metal Industries - to which he had sold the cladding.

His offences came to light after his then employer, Chip Soon Aluminium, was found to be linked to a 2017 building fire in Toh Guan Road that killed a woman.

The three companies were not involved in the blaze, but the prosecution told the court in earlier proceedings: "(The fatal incident) kicked off a chain of investigations by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) into the supplier of the ACPs installed there - Chip Soon Aluminium."

Phua, 45, was a manager at Chip Soon at the time of the offences, and was convicted by District Judge Christopher Goh of five cheating charges after a trial.