A Geylang mala restaurant owner, Sun Wenqian, 39, was fined S$9,000 on July 15 for allowing customers to gather behind closed doors in large groups to eat and drink liquor.

The Singapore permanent resident pleaded guilty to failing to ensure his restaurant adhered to the maximum permissible group size of five customers and supplying liquor without a licence.

Sun owned the Mala Jiang Hu restaurant at 136 Sims Avenue located in the Geylang liquor control zone.

The displayed shop name is Spicy Jianghu.

Tip-off

The police were tipped off on Sep. 19, 2020, at 11.44pm that the restaurant had its doors closed but there were still people inside.

A man had called the police as he saw the people inside not practising social distancing.

Three police officers entered the premises about two hours later.

Shutters down

They found the restaurant had its shutters down, but went in to conduct a check.

In one room, there were at least six people eating at a table.

In the second room, there were 10 people who were eating and drinking beer.

Violations found

Sun had instructed his employees to sell liquor to customers, despite not having the licence to do so at this restaurant.

He also failed to take any steps to ensure the five-person limit was not breached.

In court, it was heard that Sun had cooperated with the authorities, CNA reported.

He did not have a lawyer and spoke in Mandarin via an interpreter.

Pay fine in instalments

The prosecutor had sought a S$10,000 fine.

Sun asked for his fine to be repaid in instalments as he has two 21-month-old children and was the sole breadwinner for his family of five.

The judge allowed his fine to be repaid in instalments of S$1,500.

The restaurant has closed.

Top photo via Google Maps