Jail for trio who duped landlord over purpose of leasing bungalow

It was turned into a clubhouse even though it should have been used only as a private residence

- Shaffiq Alkhatib

Five people worked together to dupe the landlord of a good class bungalow into believing that one of them would be the rightful person leasing the property and that he would not use it for any purpose other than as a private residence.

However, Singaporean Wu Pengfei, 35, had merely provided his name for the tenancy of the house in Victoria Park Road near Coronation Road.

Court documents stated that another one of the five people, Cambodian national Wu Guojing, 33, was, in fact, the overall operator, and had used the property as a "clubhouse" for his friends and business associates.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheah Wenjie said that Wu Guojing — a director at two firms, SG Eastcode and Windgo Trade — was also the one who had provided the money to operate the clubhouse, and financed the property's monthly rental of $58,000.

He is still at large after leaving Singapore in July 2023.

On May 26, Wu Pengfei and another member of the group, Chinese national Su Zhentan, 40, were each sentenced to two months' jail.

Each man pleaded guilty to a cheating charge.

A fourth man, Cambodian national Su Wenhui, 44, was sentenced to four months' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count each of cheating and attempting to move more than $22,000 in cash out of Singapore.