[SINGAPORE] Ng Yu Zhi, the alleged nickel fraudster, bought a vintage Mercedes Benz for his girlfriend Qian Yijun for S$288,000 – half a year after he had bought her a Mercedes Benz for S$550,000.
He also purchased at least three more cars around this period, paying nearly S$1 million.
The High Court continued to hear evidence from motor vehicle dealers on on Tuesday (Apr 15) about more purchases of luxury vehicles by Ng for one of his girlfriends and two men whose relationship to him was not identified in court.
Ng is standing trial for 42 charges of fraudulent trading, cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and money laundering, with another 63 in connection with the alleged investment fraud being stood down in this proceeding. He is said to have swindled 947 victims of nearly S$1.5 billion.
Krez Hong testified that the accused bought a Mercedes Benz 280 for S$288,000 in December 2020. The sales and operation executive with Autobahn Motors pointed out that the vehicle was transferred to Qian.
Qian was earlier identified as one of Ng’s girlfriends by another motor dealer Michael Ho from F1 Autos on Apr11.
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Hong described the Mercedes Benz 280 as a vintage vehicle with an engine of 2.8 litres. He noted that the first registration date overseas for this vehicle was Aug 1, 1970, and the car was imported into Singapore in November 1984 and registered under the regular scheme where its usage is not limited.
He estimated that there are only 10 to 20 units of such vehicles left in Singapore and deemed it quite rare.
This purchase was made about six months after Ng bought Qian a two-door, four-litre matte grey sports car Mercedes Benz AMG GT for S$550,000 on Jun 24, 2020, based on Ho’s testimony.
Meanwhile, Ng was buying luxury vehicles from another trader.
Lim Ah Poh, chief executive of Motor-Way Credit, told the High Court that Ng purchased a used, top-of-the-range Bentley Mulsanne with an engine capacity of 6,752 cc for S$490,000 in December 2019.
It was partially funded by the S$155,000 trade-in of Ng’s Lamborghini Aventador LP750-Superveloce, with the balance paid for by Ng.
On Sep 4, 2020, Ng bought two vehicles – an Aston Martin Rapide 6.0 ABS D/AB 2WD for S$325,0000, and a Mercedes Benz E200 AVG Auto for S$183,000. The Aston Martin was transferred to a Ng Siew Thiam, while the Mercedes Benz E200 was registered under a Chua Eng Kiam.
The witness did not mention the relationship of these recipients of the cars and the 37-year-old accused.
Part of the payments that the accused made came from the S$308,0000 in proceeds from the sale of his Bentley, which he bought just 10 months prior.
He is said to have spent more than S$21 million in total on about 20 luxury cars.
Two more prosecution witnesses will take the stand on Tuesday afternoon.
The evidence emerged on Tuesday on Ng Yu Zhi’s purchases:
– a 2.8-litre, two-door vintage sports car Mercedes Benz 280 SL for S$288,000, transferred ownership to Qian Yijun;
– a used, top-of-the-range Bentley Mulsanne with an engine capacity of 6,752 cc for S$490,000;
– a four-door, six-litre used Aston Martin Rapide 6.0 ABS D/AB 2WD for S$325,0000, registered under Ng Siew Thiam’s name; and
– a used, four-door, 2,000 cc Mercedes Benz E200 AVG Auto for S$183,000, registered under Chua Eng Kiam’s name.
