Geylang fatal fire: Landlord, 2 others jailed for housing 22 foreign workers in shophouse
The aftermath of the fatal 2014 Geylang blaze.
SINGAPORE: The landlord and two tenants whose setting up of an illegal workers' dormitory in Geylang contributed to a fatal fire five years ago were sentenced to jail and fined on Monday (Feb 18).
Four foreign workers died in the fire and several others - including two firefighters - were injured.
The ground floor of the three-storey building at No. 35 Lorong 4 Geylang originally had only five rooms, the court heard. But by 2014, multiple partitions were added, doubling the number of rooms to 10. They were used to house 22 foreign workers and two Singaporeans.
This was far above the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA's) then-occupancy cap of eight people.
Landlord Chiang Teck Fung, 61, was sentenced to 10 months' jail and fined S$50,000, while his two tenants Khah Tee Meng, 55, and 68-year-old Ong Kah Sim, received 13 months' jail and a S$60,000 fine each.
The court heard that Chiang had taken Ong on as a tenant in 2007, and knew that Ong intended to sublet the residence, mainly to foreign workers.
The pair renewed this lease several times until May 2014, when Chiang more than doubled the monthly rent to S$1,500 from S$600.
Ong asked to partition more rooms in the property, as he wanted to cover the rental.
Chiang agreed, and Ong divided up the rooms so that there were nine in total.
Neither man sought approval from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) to erect partitions in the home, or from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for the change in use of the premises.
In early 2014, officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) raided the Geylang shophouse and found two people who had overstayed.
After this, Chiang terminated the lease he had with Ong and asked him to restore the premises to its original condition as ICA would be returning for another check.
Ong engaged Khah to do this. After Khah restored the place, Chiang invited him to be his tenant.
NEW TENANT ADDED EVEN MORE ROOMS
Khah and Ong conspired to have Khah sign on as official tenant and manage housekeeping, while Ong financed the cost of rent and renovation.
Khah signed a two-year tenancy agreement with Chiang in August 2014 for S$2,500 a month.
With Chiang's permission, Khah again put up partitions according to Ong's previous layout, eventually carving out 10 rooms.
Meanwhile, Ong looked for foreign workers to stay in the newly converted area, charging S$600 to S$1,500 per room to 22 foreign workers from countries including China, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
Under the agreements, up to six foreign workers were allowed in a room, while the two Singaporeans had a room each to themselves.
Most of the foreigners worked for two companies - Seng Foo Building Construction and Bestway Cleaning Services.
Disaster struck in the wee hours of Dec 6, 2014, when a fire broke out in the illegal dorm.
Four foreign workers staying in one of the rooms died from smoke inhalation, while five other people in the three-storey building and two firefighters were injured.
According to SCDF, the fire started from "an electrical source at the fluorescent lighting" outside the 10th room of the illegal dorm.
PARTITIONS COMBUSTIBLE, PASSAGEWAYS NARROW: INVESTIGATOR
The three men were convicted after a trial, where a lead fire investigator for the case testified that the partitions were made of combustible material and that passageways in the dorm were wide enough only for one person to pass through freely.
"This is the first case of its kind where deaths had occurred in an illegal workers’ dormitory," said the prosecution.
"The three accused persons had tenanted out the premises to foreign workers and had erected partitions to create more rooms to accommodate them. Their sole intention was to maximise profit."
Chiang's defence was that Khah had put up the partitions without his knowledge, while Khah claimed he was only a front man for Ong, who was the mastermind.
Ong, in turn, claimed that he provided only a loan to Khah for the subletting business. He added that the relationship between himself and Khah later soured when Khah saw the increase in rental income and began to "snatch the rooms", renting some out to his own tenants.
The three men deferred their sentences to Mar 4 and are out on S$15,000 bail each.
In June last year, three directors and their companies were fined S$153,000 in total for housing their foreign workers in the overcrowded illegal dorm.
