The owner of ramen chain Takagi Ramen, Yang Kaiheng, lodged a police report on Jan. 22 against Japanese restaurant chain Ministry of Food (MOF), after Yang claimed that MOF did not return S$16,000 worth of deposit to him.

Yang and his wife Ai Takagi used to be the administrators of now-defunct website The Real Singapore (TRS).

The couple started the local ramen chain after serving jail sentences for sedition in 2016. Yang was jailed eight months and, for Takagi, it was 10 months.

Alleged delay in returning deposit of S$16,000

In his public Facebook post on Jan. 29, Yang released screenshots and accused MOF's CEO Lena Sim of discriminating against him for being a former convict in addition to a delay in returning his deposit.

Yang said that he submitted a Letter of Intent (LOI) to rent a unit, and handed over a goodwill deposit cheque for S$16,000 to the master tenant, MOF, last December.

However, when MOF was unable to give the terms requested in the LOI, Yang alleged that they did not refund him the deposit immediately.

Instead, Yang claimed that MOF "delayed and dragged" the refund process for over three weeks.

Police report lodged over the deposit

He then lodged a police report on Jan. 22:

In the police report, it was stated that three demands for payment were made, but the deadlines were all missed.

Email allegedly sent by one "Lena Sim" calling them "serial liars"

Yang also claimed that instead of refunding the money as requested, Sim allegedly sent an email to the landlord bringing up his conviction five years ago.

The email brought up the fact that both were convicted of sedition, which the email stated was "a very serious offence to the nation".

According to the contents of the email, a "Lena Sim" had called Yang and his wife a "dishonest" couple who is "aggressive, unreasonable, threatening and even abusive".

The email apparently claimed that she had "no discrimination" after saying earlier that she was horrified to discover the background of Takagi Ramen's owners.

The email also called the couple "serial liars".

Yang said in his Facebook post that he "truly felt openly discriminated as an ex-con" and that "dealing with discrimination is simply another hurdle that ex-cons need to overcome to get back on track".

"My conscience is clear. I am running an honest business with Takagi Ramen," he said.

MOF denying allegations

In response to Mothership's queries, MOF said that they denied the allegations made in Yang's post.

This is their full statement:

"Ministry of Food (“MOF”) denies the allegations made in the facebook post. The matter is now being handled by MOF’s lawyers. It is therefore not appropriate for me to comment further publicly as MOF’s lawyers will be doing the necessary. In this regard, both MOH and I reserve all our rights to take whatever legal action against any party we deem fit to protect our rights."

Received the S$16,000 deposit two days later

Two days after Yang went public on his dispute with MOF, Yang announced that he received an express courier letter with a cheque from Sim's lawyers.

He said that Yang was glad that the issue was settled, and had no intention to pursue the matter any further.

This is his Facebook post on Jan. 31:

Top image from Takagi Ramen & Ministry of Food's Facebook page.