SINGAPORE: A man recently convicted of murdering his mistress at Gardens by the Bay returned to court on Tuesday (Jul 23) over cheating and embezzlement charges.
Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock, 51, appeared in the State Courts via video link to face four counts of cheating and two counts of criminal breach of trust by misappropriation.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHe is accused of embezzling about S$24,000 from textile and laundry company Kendo Services, where he worked as a marketing manager in 2015 and 2016.
He also faces four counts of cheating four women of about S$64,600 between October 2014 and July 2016.
According to charge sheets, in October 2014, Khoo deceived a woman named Nancy Zhao Cui Lan into believing that he owned a laundry business and inducing her to give him S$10,000 to invest in the business.
About a year later, he allegedly tricked another woman, Karen Kang Siew Yin, into giving him S$30,000 under the same "investment" ruse.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe third woman, Zhang Hong, was purportedly deceived into believing that she could invest in one of Khoo's family laundry outlets and be his business partner. She transferred 50,000 yuan (S$10,400) for this purpose.
Khoo is accused of tricking a fourth woman, Lim Siew Li, into believing that she was a franchisee of Orchid Laundry. She purportedly transferred about S$14,600 to bank accounts for this reason.
HEARING ADJOURNED UNTIL AFTER MURDER SENTENCE
Khoo's lawyer Mervyn Cheong told the court that his client was convicted of murder on Jul 18, and that the High Court judge had asked for both sides to prepare sentencing submissions by Aug 2.
The decision on the sentence will be given on a date to be fixed by the Supreme Court registry, said Mr Cheong.
"So for now we will adjourn this to a date that we do not know yet," said District Judge Terence Tay.
He adjourned the matter for six weeks, to be heard again on Sep 24.
Khoo was charged with these six offences in February this year before the trial for the murder of his girlfriend began.
He was found guilty last week of strangling China national Cui Yajie on Jul 12, 2016, before burning her body over three days in Lim Chu Kang.
The sentencing for the murder charge will be at a later date.
If found guilty of cheating, he could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined. He faces up to 15 years' jail and a fine for each charge of criminal breach of trust.
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