[SINGAPORE] Alleged nickel fraudster Ng Yu Zhi bought a vintage Mercedes Benz for his girlfriend Qian Yijun for S$288,000 – half a year after he bought her another Mercedes Benz for S$550,000.
He also purchased at least three other cars around this period, paying nearly S$1 million.
The High Court continued to hear evidence from motor-vehicle dealers on Tuesday (Apr 15) about Ng’s purchases of luxury vehicles for one of his girlfriends and two men, whose relationship to him went unmentioned in court.
Ng, 37, is standing trial for 42 charges of fraudulent trading, cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and money laundering; another 63 charges in connection with the alleged investment fraud are being stood down in this proceeding. He is said to have swindled 947 victims of nearly S$1.5 billion.
Krez Hong, a sales and operations executive with Autobahn Motors, testified that the accused bought a Mercedes Benz 280 for S$288,000 in December 2020, and transferred ownership of it to Qian.
Qian was on Apr 11 identified as one of Ng’s girlfriends by another motor dealer, Michael Ho of F1 Autos.
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Hong described the Mercedes Benz 280 as a vintage vehicle with an engine capacity of 2.8 litres. He noted that the first registration date overseas for it was Aug 1, 1970, and that the car was imported into Singapore in November 1984 and registered for use on Singapore roads like a regular car.
He estimated that there are only 10 to 20 such vehicles left in Singapore and deemed it quite rare.
This purchase came about six months after Ng bought Qian a two-door, four-litre matte grey Mercedes Benz AMG GT, a sport model, 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 bought 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 an Ng Siew Thiam, and the Mercedes Benz E200 was registered under Chua Eng Kiam.
The witness did not say how the recipients of these cars were related to Ng.
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.
Ng’s purchases, as detailed on Apr 15:
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;
A used, four-door, 2,000 cc Mercedes Benz E200 AVG Auto for S$183,000, registered under Chua Eng Kiam’s name.
