Girls hid sex acts with smokescreen

Girls hid sex acts with smokescreen

In four years, he made more than a million dollars from his nine pubs in two Orchard Road buildings.

But about 40 per cent of that money was made illegally by providing sexual services in the pubs.

His customers had to buy a certain number of "ladies drinks" at inflated prices to qualify for such services as oral sex inside the joints.

They could also pay a "bar fine" of at least $200 to take a woman out for activities that usually included sexual intercourse.

To provide these sexual services, pub owner Ang Boon Seng and his 18 accomplices, including his wife, procured women from the Philippines.

Ang, 40, is awaiting sentencing for abetting with others to procure women for the purpose of prostitution, abetting with others to harbour the women, living off their immoral earnings and managing brothels.

He faced 232 charges in total, with 189 taken into consideration and six earlier discharged amounting to acquittal.

His wife, Ylarde Anne Asuncion, a 31-year-old Singapore permanent resident from the Philippines, is also awaiting sentencing for six charges of procuring women for the purpose of prostitution and one count of living off immoral earnings.

They pleaded guilty in August.

Court documents revealed that Ang opened his first pub, Tokyo Drift, in Orchard Plaza in June 2009.

Based on his efforts and experience in the industry, the business prospered and by August 2013, he had opened another eight.

Six of them, including Poker Face Entertainment, Masquerade Karaoke & Tea Lounge and Koto Japanese Lounge, were also in Orchard Plaza, with the remaining two, Ginza Entertainment and Candles Pub, in nearby Cuppage Plaza.

A check by The New Paper last night found that most, if not all, of the pubs have closed down.

Ang employed a total of 55 women who worked as "performing artists" in his pubs. Ten of them, aged between 21 to 29, were involved in the charges proceeded against him.

Before coming to Singapore, the women were told they were bound to a "utang" (which means "debt" in Tagalog) - a verbal contact that needed to be fulfilled before they got paid. In one case, the woman's "utang" was $5,600.

To offset the "utang", the women had to provide sexual services.

They could do so by earning points through selling "ladies drinks" - each costing $22 to $55. Each point was worth $4.

The women were also told that they could offer sexual services after the customers had purchased a minimum number of these drinks, which could amount to a few hundred dollars.

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LEWD

While performing the lewd acts, the women would switch on smoke machines in the pubs to conceal their activities.

They were also told that they could pay off the "utang" faster if they went out with customers who had paid the "bar fine" and had sex with them.

Court documents showed that Ang provided accommodation for the women who each paid him 40 points per week. Ang said his profits could reach $60,000 on good months and he admitted that he earned about $1.08 million from his pubs in four years. As his business grew, he hired four managers to help him run the pubs.

Ang installed closed-circuit television cameras in and around the pubs which transmitted live feeds to his office.

He and his co-accused could then monitor what was happening in his pubs and alert his managers via walkie-talkies if they spotted police officers.

The managers would then switch on the lights in the pubs to warn the women to stop performing sexual acts.

Some of his co-accused, including his wife, assisted Ang in recruiting women from the Philippines.

The pub managers received the women when they arrived at Changi Airport, and drove them to Malaysia and do a U-turn back to Singapore, via the Woodlands Checkpoint, when the women needed to renew their visit passes.

Ang paid the managers $100 each for a U-turn trip.

Ang and his wife are expected to be sentenced on Monday, while the cases for the others are pending.

For each charge, he faces up to five years' jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

BY THE NUMBERS

$200

The minimum "bar fine" patrons had to pay to take a woman out for activities which usually included sexual intercourse.


This article was first published on October 10, 2014.
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