Claypot hawker turns heads for driving Rolls-Royce linked to S$3 billion money laundering case, ex-boss's car acquired legally

To promote his hawker stall, a man made a TikTok video that begins with him pulling into a car park at Upper Boon Keng Market & Food Centre in a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

The video, uploaded on Sep. 15, sparked admiration as some were impressed that a hawker selling claypot dishes could afford to drive a Rolls-Royce.

It also raised some eyebrows from people who noticed the car's licence number, which can be seen in the video.

They pointed out that the car was recently listed for auction as one of the assets seized during a S$3 billion money laundering probe in Singapore.

At least 11 Rolls-Royce cars were included in a closed-bid auction by Sgcarmart Quotz in July 2026, The Straits Times reported.

Not his car

But Ezam told Mothership that he does not own the luxury car, but had borrowed it from his former boss for the video.

It is also true that the Rolls-Royce is linked to the S$3 billion money laundering case, according to him.

The car was put up for auction and his former boss made the winning bid, he said.

A marketing idea

The idea for the video came up over lunch between Ezam and two of his friends — a car dealer, and his former boss who owns the Rolls-Royce.

They envisioned getting Ezam to drive the car to the hawker centre where his stall was, and someone would approach him to ask what he did for a living to be able to drive a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

That was how the video eventually posted on TikTok went.

In the video, Ezam shares that he currently runs one outlet of his hawker business Seven Claypot in Singapore, along with three more in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

His aunt has owned the Upper Boon Keng stall since 2004, he told Mothership.

When he suggested recently that she let him help her run the business, she agreed. He made some major changes, including revamping the menus, and now stepping up the marketing.

Responding to the comments

Many comments under his video believed that Ezam owns the Rolls-Royce, and expressed respect for him.

However, Ezam said he had also seen less positive comments where people questioned the car's ties to the money laundering case.

He underscored that his former boss, whom he worked with before venturing into the food industry, had bought the car legally.

"I don’t see any problem with it... As long as it is acquired legally, then I’m good," he said.

Apart from speculating about the origins of the Rolls-Royce, commenters also pointed out that Ezam parked at an accessible parking spot in the video even though he appeared able-bodied.

A comment under his video defended him, guessing that Ezam had decided to park at an accessible space as it would give him more space to capture the car fully in the video.

The user added that Ezam likely moved the car quickly after that frame was shot, and Ezam replied to say that he was in the spot for less than 15 seconds.

Regardless of how the response skewed, the video brought significant attention to Ezam's hawker stall.

"After the video went viral, the business went up," he said. "People have come from far just to catch a glimpse of the car. Some even asked permission to take a picture of it."

Given the success, he and his friends plan to make another promotional video for the stall, featuring not only the Rolls-Royce Phantom but also some of his friend’s supercars.

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