Jail for Singaporean who travelled using Philippine passport
On 46 occasions between 2011 and 2012, a Singaporean man presented a Philippine passport obtained via “dubious” channels to immigration officers when going through checkpoints in Singapore.
The prosecution said Goh Chin Soon continued to rely on the “misleading passport” despite having a valid Singapore passport.
While the Philippine passport bore a photograph of Goh’s face, the name was purportedly that of a Filipino citizen known as “Boris Jacinto Ngo”, the court heard.
The prosecution added: “The accused’s actions were highly premeditated, as he took steps to obtain the misleading passport through dubious channels so that he could circumvent the requirements imposed on him by the IPTO (Insolvency and Public Trustee’s Office), given his status as an undischarged bankrupt.
“To cover up his crimes, the accused committed fraud on the authorities when his lawyers – acting on the accused’s instructions – issued a letter to IPTO informing (the office) that the accused was stuck in China without a valid passport.”
The court heard that Goh was in Singapore when the letter was issued.
On Aug 28, Goh, 69, was sentenced to 15 months and six weeks’ jail after he was convicted of 69 charges under the Immigration Act, including multiple counts of producing a misleading document to an immigration officer when travelling to and from Singapore.
A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority revealed that Goh is a director at multiple firms, including De Li Investment and Zurich Capital.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Jane Lim and Wong Shiau Yin stated in their submissions that Goh was an undischarged bankrupt from May 17, 2001, to June 11, 2015.
During that period, he needed permission from the Official Assignee, who is appointed by the High Court to handle a bankrupt’s affairs, to travel overseas.
The DPPs told District Judge Brenda Chua that Goh had applied for a Singapore passport on April 28, 2010, but he was not issued one because of his unresolved bankruptcy-related issues.
They added that he knew about his bankruptcy issues but made no effort to resolve them. Instead, he paid US$250,000 (S$326,000) for the Philippine passport.
He then used the document to travel in and out of Singapore after receiving it sometime in 2011.
According to court documents, Goh had never stepped foot in the Philippines. The DPPs said that he had also never been to a Philippine embassy to apply for a passport.
On Jan 30, 2012, Goh made an online application for a Singapore passport, which the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority issued the following month.
The DPPs told the court that despite being in possession of the Singapore passport from 2012, he “curiously” continued to use the Philippine passport on multiple occasions.
Goh’s offences came to light on Sept 7, 2012, when he went to Changi Airport Terminal 3 to board a plane to Hong Kong. He presented the Philippine passport at a checkpoint and was arrested soon after.
According to the prosecution, Goh said in his defence that he had to obtain the Philippine passport in early 2011 to travel out of China to “avoid serious harm to himself”.
The DPPs said that among other things, Goh had claimed to have fallen prey to corrupt Chinese officials and that the authorities there had taken his Singapore passport.
He claimed that he had applied for a passport at the Singapore Embassy in Xiamen but was not issued one, the court heard.
The DPPs said Goh also claimed that he managed to obtain the Philippine passport with the help of other men, including a “Mr Cai You Zhang” and a “Mr Huang”.
“The accused claimed that he believed the passport was legitimate, as ‘Mr Huang’ said that he went to every department in the Philippines to get it done, and the accused had travelled to many countries with the Philippine passport without issues,” they told the court.
The court heard on Aug 28 that Goh intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence. His bail was set at $200,000.
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