Prostitution kingpin and wife plead guilty

Prostitution kingpin and wife plead guilty

SINGAPORE - He is reportedly the brains behind one of Singapore's largest prostitution rings, with nine nightclubs along Orchard Road and 55 prostitutes under his wing.

In four years, from 2009 to last year, he and his wife made more than a million.

But the long arm of the law has caught up with Ang Boon Seng, 40, and his Philippine wife, Ylarde Anne Asuncion, 31.

Yesterday, they pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next week, Lianhe Wanbao reported.

Ang faces over 230 vice-related charges and seven Manpower Ministry charges. The charges relate to him getting people to recruit prostitutes, running an illegal brothel and living off prostitutes.

Last year, at about 11pm on Aug 13, the police's Criminal Investigation Department received information pointing to illegal prostitution activities in Orchard Plaza and Cuppage Plaza.

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The police then raided nine nightclubs and brought down one of Singapore's biggest prostitution rings, Wanbao reported. Police arrested 68 people, including Ang.

Investigations revealed that he started a pub in June 2009, and in four years opened nine nightclubs in the Orchard Road area, operating illegal activities.

Through a Philippine agent, he brought in 55 women to Singapore as "entertainment performers" or tourists, to ply the prostitution trade.

Ang admitted that his nightclub business would bring in more than $344,000 a month and his monthly net profit could be between $27,000 and $60,000.

In the last four years, he got $1.08 million, of which 40 per cent came from the prostitutes' service fees. Ang's nine bank accounts were frozen after he was arrested.

He had 18 accomplices and they have been charged, including his wife. He got to know her in 2003 and they were married in August 2009.

She would then frequently travel to the Philippines to look for women interested in earning money to come to Singapore as "entertainment performers".

To dupe the authorities, she would sometimes pretend to be the women's sisters and fly back to Singapore with them.

Ang has six children and has married twice. His Philippine wife is his second and bore him three kids.

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Ang's prostitution ring was also reportedly a highly organised one, with monitoring cameras and "smoke rooms" that could emit smoke when clients and the prostitutes wanted to get intimate.

The prostitutes had to first pay off the expenses for bringing them to Singapore before they could start earning money.

Through the sale of services to clients, the prostitutes earned points. Offering sexual services to clients could cost the clients $22 to $55, and prostitutes could get three to five points for it. Each point was worth $4 for the prostitutes.

Ang would use $2,000 of his monthly salary and additional commissions to hire four experienced locals to be nightclub managers. Some would arrange for the prostitutes to enter Singapore, while some were in charge of four living accommodations for them.

Monitoring cameras were also installed in the nightclubs, with feeds to Ang's office so he could track the movements of people.

The prosecution is requesting a jail sentence of at least three years for Ang, taking into account that he runs one of Singapore's biggest prostitution rings and netted high profits.


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