A 39-year-old Singaporean man admitted to operating a karaoke lounge and taking in customers during Phase 1 of Singapore's post-circuit breaker measures.

KTV operator guilty of opening to customers during Phase 1

Leow Keng Chun, the occupier and operator of "DRINKITUP", a KTV outlet located in Jalan Besar, faced two charges of opening non-residential premises to other individuals, and for providing public entertainment and selling liquor without required licenses, and a third charge of failing to close the non-residential premises as required under Covid-19 regulations in effect during Phase 1.

He pleaded guilty to all three charges in court on Oct. 7, CNA reported.

According to court documents, a team of police officers were conducting enforcement checks at 237 Jalan Besar on June 5 at around 11pm when they found Leow inside the building.

He admitted to the officers that there were five other people at the outlet, and shouted at the people inside to open the door, but got no response.

The police eventually broke a small glass panel next to the door to unlock the door from the inside.

Two customers and two hostesses found in KTV outlet

Five others were found on the premises.

Police investigations found that two of them were customers, and another two were hostesses hired to accompany them.

Another man, Low Hong Meng, 39, was also found inside the outlet at the time, and was in a separate room. He was the main tenant of the building.

Leow, the occupier and operator of the outlet, paid monthly rent to Low.

Court documents stated that Leow opened the outlet for business from June 2 onwards, "to anyone who made a reservation".

Leow's two customers on June 5, Daryl Tan Siong Kit, 30, and Andrew Tay Jing An, 25, had reserved a room at the outlet to sing and drink alcohol, arriving at around 9:30pm.

They were let into the building via the back entrance by Leow.

The two hostesses, Le Quach Van Ly, 19, and Pham Thi Yen Ngoc, 24, both Vietnamese nationals, were waiting for Tan and Tay at the outlet.

Tan and Tay ordered beer towers costing S$100 each. They also played dice games, drank, and sang with the two hostesses using a KTV system in the room.

They were also planning to tip the two hostesses S$200 for their companionship at the end of the night.

Prosecutor asked for S$13,000 fine

Throughout the night, Leow did not enforce the wearing of masks by the customers and hostesses, or take any other precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

As the outlet is located within a Liquor Control Zone, Leow had sold alcohol to Tan and Tay without a liquor license as well.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Stephanie Koh said that Leow was aware that the KTV outlet was not allowed to be in operation during Phase 1, and had taken extra steps to avoid detection.

The prosecution proposed a total fine of S$13,000 for the three charges he is facing.

Leow's sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 5, 2020.

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