NO one expected any surprise but they came anyway.

Some members of the media camped outside the prison from as early as 5.45am yesterday.

They were there to catch the former National Kidney Foundation (NKF) chief executive, TTDurai, 59, when he was released from the Queenstown Remand Prison at 10.40am, after completing a three-month jail term.

Journalists and photographers were not the only ones waiting for him outside.

A man wearing a black cap, black T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans was standing outside the prison gates before 10am.

His gaze never left the smaller gate from which prison staff walked out.

Few suspected that he was waiting for Durai.

Then, at 10.40am, the photojournalists stirred.

Smiling and with greying hair visible, Durai walked over to the guardroom to settle final administrative matters.

As he made his way to the main gate, he turned round and said to the prison officer escorting him: 'I suppose I should thank you.'

He smiled as he shook the officer's hand. The cameras clicked to attention.

The man in the black T-shirt then swooped down on Durai, acting as a security detail, coming between him and the media people.

From the visitors' carpark, a black Hyundai Tucson suddenly appeared. It stopped in front of the prison gates behind the throng of photographers, catching them momentarily by surprise.

Its back door was flung open as the man in black helped Durai into the rear passenger seat, shielding him with hiscap.

A Chinese woman was in the back. Durai's elder son, Shiva, was driving and a Chinese man sat in front.

Durai is married with three children.

Another man had arrived at the prison earlier, but did not get into thecar.

In the rush to whisk Durai away, the man was left behind.

The car later went back to pick him up from Margaret Drive.

TWO-MINUTE DEPARTURE

It was all over in about two minutes - from the time Durai had appeared to the time the car sped off.

The man who had shielded Durai did not get into the car, but walked away towards Margaret Drive.

Thus ended the saga of the former NKF CEO's trial, conviction, appeal and jail sentence.

Durai started serving his sentence on 10 Jun for having used a fake invoice to cheat NKF into paying $20,000 to an interior designer friend between December 2003 and January 2004.

What now for Singapore's highest-profile charity figure at one time?

Durai looks set to begin his new job abroad.

It was reported last September that he would be starting a $25,000-a-month job at Property Facility Services (PFS), a real estate management company.

It was reported then that he would be helping the company start a firm in the United Arab Emirates offering health care and human resource services in the Middle East.

He will be the chief executive officer of the new company and will be based full-time in Abu Dhabi.

He had received the job offer last June by company chairman Albert Hong, who is also the chairman of RSP Architects Planners and Engineers.

Mr Hong had told The Straits Times last year that it was Durai who had approached him for a job.

DURAI AN 'ASSET'

He said then that PFS wanted Durai as they believed he would be an asset to their company.

The New Paper e-mailed MrHong last Friday about the status of the job offer, but neither he nor PFS responded by press time yesterday.

According to PFS' website, the company provides facility management and consulting services for more than 200 buildings in Singapore.

Their portfolio includes residential, commercial, retail and industrial properties.

The services include advice on maintenance works, and supervision of repair and maintenance works.

Durai's lawyer, Senior Counsel Sant Singh, had said last year that Durai needed a job so he could pay off his debt to the NKF because of the civil suit amounting to over $4 million, to be paid over four years.

He has since paid $1.4 million.

Durai's downfall came when he took a failed defamation suit against Singapore Press Holdings for an article on the NKF by The Straits Times.

It led to government investigations into the charity and Durai, and the NKF board, resigned.

This story was first published in The New Paper on 12 August 2008.