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SINGAPORE: During the “circuit breaker,” when all social gatherings were banned, a club owner invited his business partners and shareholders to his store on Arab Street to discuss how to deal with financial losses from the pandemic.
The police heard music coming from the premises and raided the club to find it in operation, with 13 people drinking, chatting and singing karaoke inside two rooms.
Club Playground owner Teo Guoshun, 34, was fined S $ 7,500 on Wednesday (December 16) for two counts of non-compliance with COVID-19 regulations and a third count taken into consideration.
Seven others who were at the club were fined between S $ 2,800 and S $ 3,000 for a similar charge, with a second charge taken into consideration.
They are: Teo’s girlfriend, Per Li Min, 26; Chinese singer Zhang Min, 28; Per’s friend, Veronica Ong Xue Yu, 21; club investor Whenn Tan, 25; the club’s stage manager, James Teng Chung Choon, 46; club shareholder Ang Kok Siang, 32; and Project Manager Terence Chong Kaichen, 29.
READ: 10 people accused of going to a club during the ‘circuit breaker’ for business, social gathering
The court heard that police were verifying violations of safe distancing measures when they heard music coming from the Playground Club at 122 Arab Street in the early hours of May 30.
When the club’s shutters were closed, the police entered through the back door and saw the club in operation, with “a lot of people inside the compound.”
Two of the rooms were occupied, and 13 people were seen drinking, chatting and singing karaoke, Deputy Prosecutor Goh Yi Ling said.
Among those present were shareholders and business partners who met to discuss how to deal with the losses suffered by the club during the breaker period. This time social gatherings were not allowed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and people were only allowed to go out to run errands or jobs deemed essential.
Teo had organized the meeting, which lasted almost three hours until the police arrived. Some of the attendees were potential investors who wanted to know more about the business.
The prosecutor requested a fine of S $ 3,000 for the defendants, except Teo, who said that he should receive a fine greater than S $ 8,000, since it was he who organized the meeting.
Teo had invited most of the guests and stayed at the club the longest, around 8pm, and a higher fine should be imposed, Ms Goh said. It also allowed the guests to enter the venue for the meeting and to drink and sing.
YOUR PLEASURES OF MITIGATION
None of the accused had a lawyer. As a mitigation, Teo, along with most of his co-defendants, asked to be allowed to pay the fine in installments, citing “difficult times.”
“Out of all this COVID … (as) owner of the club, we really got the biggest impact. So far, everyone behind (in court), we all lose money. We don’t have any good income,” he said.
Zhang received the lowest fine of S $ 2,800, after telling the judge that he was in a traffic accident in November 2018 and that his “processing capacity is a bit slow.”
“I had a head operation. I just follow what other people told me and had a hard time processing complicated information,” he said through a Mandarin interpreter.
He added that he was “ignorant” and did not have a television at home.
“My neighbors told me that the circuit breaker (had) ended and that I had seen street vendors. It was my mistake not to verify the facts,” he said, adding that he knew the law in Singapore is “very strict” and said that he has not committed any crime in the last six years.
The judge allowed Zhang his request for installment payments, but told him that it was not he who should decide whether he could stay in Singapore. If you are not allowed to do so, another hearing will be held on the payment of the fines.
Tan asked for leniency and said it was his first time in court. He said he had invested in the club earlier this year in what was his first investment and that he has not been making any money from it.
Teng, the oldest in the group, also asked to pay in installments, saying that he has been using his savings and government support for 11 months this year and that he just got a new job.
Chong asked for leniency, saying he was very sorry after being caught and that he has not violated any COVID-19 laws to date.
The cases of the other co-defendants are pending. Violation of a COVID-19 law carries penalties of up to six months in jail, a fine of up to S $ 10,000, or both for first-time offenders.
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