appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

TODAY

In Singapore, a 39-year-old man on Tuesday became the first administrator of sex-themed Telegram chat group “SG Nasi Lemak” to be dealt with in court.
Liong Tianwei, a married father of two, was sentenced in a district court to nine weeks’ jail and a fine of S$26,000 (US$19,000). He had posted advertisements for sex workers on the chat group.
When police raided his home in October 2019, they found more than 8,000 obscene images in his electronic devices.
The chat group is no longer accessible but had more than 44,000 members when it was still active. Several women had called out the group after discovering their photos were shared there.
Between March 15 and October 3 in 2019, the police received 31 reports island-wide and arrested Liong, who was self-employed, along with three others.
Two have been sentenced to probation for distributing obscene material in the group, while the case of another administrator – Leonard Teo Min Xuan – is pending.
Singapore to impose harsher penalties for certain sex crimes
Liong on Tuesday pleaded guilty to six charges in total, including two under the Women’s Charter as well as possession and transmission of obscene material. Eight other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that 29 members of SG Nasi Lemak, which was created in November 2018, had administrative rights. Liong used the moniker “Crazy Rich Asian” in the group. He had developed a close relationship with a sex worker from China in 2016, whom he frequented often.
She then introduced him to another China national known as Hua Ge, who asked Liong to help him promote female sex workers from China featured on a vice website known as “sex727”.
Liong agreed, downloading pictures, posts and videos from the website to repost on various social media platforms.


Between 2016 and his arrest three years later, he posted advertisements of the women on a Twitter account. He mainly used his Asus laptop to download the material, and used his Samsung mobile phone to retweet or check responses to the Twitter posts.
When the SG Nasi Lemak chat group was formed, he posted advertisements there with his iPhone.
He received weekly payments in cash for his services, ranging from S$300 to S$800, collected from different women from mainland China.
About 4am on October 14, 2019, the police conducted a coordinated operation. Liong was arrested at his Marine Parade residence and his electronic devices were seized.
He was initially highly uncooperative and refused to provide passwords or access codes for the devices.
When his case was referred to the Criminal Investigation Department’s Specialised Crime Branch, he gradually became more forthcoming and eventually provided the code for his Telegram account, in order to access SG Nasi Lemak.
Coronavirus Singapore: Briton jailed for breaking quarantine order by meeting fiancée in hotel
In mitigation, Liong’s lawyer R.S. Bajwa said he had merely uploaded obscene material “along with everyone else in the group”. “He shouldn’t have done it,” acknowledged the lawyer, who later also asked the court to grant a gag order preventing the media from publishing Liong’s photograph.
Liong’s wife had asked for this, Bajwa said, as the couple had two young sons aged nine and 11 who were “very impressionable” and would be “very embarrassed and ridiculed if he was identified”. This was despite his photo already having been published recently.
“A gag order is to protect young children, usually a victim. In this case, it’s to protect his own children from what he has done,” Bajwa added.
While Deputy Public Prosecutor Huo Jiongrui initially did not object, he clarified that there was no legal authority to prevent Liong’s photo from being published.
District Judge Janet Wang agreed, telling the court: “Unfortunately, the risk of embarrassment or public shaming is an inevitable consequence of the accused’s wrongdoing.”
Read the original article at Today Online.


UN alarmed by Singapore executions for drug-related offences

Anthropic’s Mythos is stoking cybersecurity fears. What does it mean for China?

Singapore’s Balakrishnan warns Hormuz just a ‘dry run’ if US, China clash

Singaporean man charged after viral Lucky Plaza assault on Filipino woman

Singapore

Singapore man who advertised sex workers on Telegram group gets jail, US$19,000 fine

The Telegram group had more than 44,000 members when it was active. Photo: Handout

Coronavirus Singapore: Briton jailed for breaking quarantine order by meeting fiancée in hotel

British national Nigel Skea and his wife arrive at the State Court in Singapore on Friday. Photo: AFP

Singapore to impose harsher penalties for certain sex crimes

Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said an offender will not receive a lighter sentence simply because he has higher educational qualifications, or has better prospects in life. Photo: AFP

News

Asia

Southeast Asia


Liong Tianwei, a married father of two, was given nine weeks in jail in addition to the financial penalty
He is the first administrator of the sex-themed chat group called SG Nasi Lemak to be dealt with in court



Liong Tianwei, a married father of two, is the first administrator of the sex-themed chat group called SG Nasi Lemak to be dealt with in court.


Crime

Today Online