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THE controversy involving a woman member of the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) who fought her club suspension all the way to the Court of Appeal is not about to end.
Madam Kay Swee Pin, who had her May 2006 suspension overturned a month ago, is now under police investigation for alleged bigamy.
Her accuser is lawyer John Lee, 59, the same club member who had instigated the SICC's leadership to suspend her.
His letter to the Registry of Marriages (ROM) earlier this month, which alleged bigamy on her part, has been referred to the police. They have since questioned Madam Kay, the 54-year- old deputy executive chairman of travel agency SA Tours.
Bigamy, an offence under the Penal Code, carries a maximum jail term of seven years.
Mr Lee had first raised the issue of bigamy to the club's general committee when it came to light that Madam Kay's divorce from her first husband had not been finalised when she married Mr Ng Kong Yeam in a customary ceremony in 1982.
The divorce was granted only two years later.
The storm that Madam Kay is in started brewing when the SICC accused her in November 2005 of lying about her marital status when she applied for membership in 1992.
The club contended that she had declared Mr Ng, 69, as her husband just so that he could enjoy the club's facilities for free.
She was questioned by the club's disciplinary committee. It initially cleared her, but the general committee reversed the decision and kept the disciplinary committee on the case. The latter eventually decided to penalise her by making her return $12,500 in green fees chalked up by her husband.
The club's governing body went a step further and suspended her for a year.
Madam Kay went to the High Court, but lost her case in March last year. It was her next stop, the three-judge Court of Appeal, which ruled that she had no intention of deceiving the club about her marital status.
Her defence had been that she was married in customary fashion to Mr Ng in Johor Baru in 1982. The couple now have a daughter, aged 18.
They registered their marriage in Las Vegas in August 2005, soon after the club asked for proof of it.
The club's move to question her marital status 13 years into her membership appeared to have its roots in her decision to challenge Mr Lee's wife, Glenis, 53, for the position of lady golf captain.
At the appeals court hearing, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong levelled some harsh words at the club for presuming to find her guilty without listening to her side of the story, and also at Mr Lee, for prejudicing the club's proceedings with his interventions.
In its written judgment released earlier this month, the appeals court did not touch on the validity of Madam Kay's customary marriage or whether bigamy had been committed.
CJ Chan made clear that the issue was whether Madam Kay had intended to cheat the club by declaring Mr Ng as her spouse.
Mr and Mrs Lee and Madam Kay have all declined comment.
The 45-year-old SICC, which has 7,500 members, is widely regarded as Singapore's premier country club.
Members who had heard about Mr Lee's letter to the ROM also declined comment on the issue.
But one member, who has been with the club for over 20 years, said: 'The club's image has been ruined enough by this. They should just let it rest.'
carolynq@sph.com.sg
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