A FORMER chairman of a constituency sports club was charged in court on Wednesday with 22 counts of forgery involving a total of $26,700.

Koh Eng Ann, 48, who received a Public Service Medal in the 2005 National Day awards, was chairman of Jalan Kayu Constituency Sports Club.

The self-employed contractor is accused of forging receipt orders of a company called Novel Product Marketing by writing on the orders for items such as key holders, pencil cases, mini lights and pen sets, intending to use the documents to cheat.

The 22 alleged offences took place at his flat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 between Sept 4, 2006 and April 9 last year. The amounts ranged from a couple of hundred dollars to $1,800.

The prosecution had sought a bail of $50,000 but this was reduced to $20,000 as the court heard from his lawyer, Mr Wee Pan Lee, that all the money had been recovered.

A pre-trial conference is fixed for Feb 14. If convicted, Koh faces a jail term of up to seven years and a fine on each charge.