Ex-stewardess who attempted to cheat AXA Insurance of $20k gets 7 months' jail

A former flight attendant who played a key role in providing a car in a conspiracy to defraud an insurance company was jailed for seven months yesterday.

Siti Irnawaty Mala Adamy, 30, had pleaded guilty to abetment by conspiring to cheat AXA Insurance of $20,870.

She duped the company into believing that her former boyfriend was driving the car when it was involved in a staged three-vehicle collision in West Coast Highway on Feb 11, 2012.

A second similar charge involving a personal injury claim - for supposed neck and lower back pain - of $3,800 was considered during sentencing.

The court heard last month that Sollihin Anhar, 42, whose case is pending, staged the accident with the help of three other men.

They rammed a car registered under Siti Irnawaty's name into a heavy vehicle

She was told to include her name as a passenger while making an insurance claim and to pretend to have been injured.

Siti Irnawaty then authorised car workshop Master Motors to lodge a property damage claim of $21,427 against Hamadi Awang, who had been driving the heavy vehicle.

Siti Irnawaty received $1,000 and had her car repaired for free.

On April 10, 2013, AXA reported to the police that fraudulent claims had been made for the accident.

Principal District Judge Bala Reddy said Siti Irnawaty played an active role and was an "integral part of the scam". She not only used her vehicle and lied that she was a passenger, but also complained of "neck and lower back pain'' to a doctor to lend credence to her false claim for personal injury, said the judge.

He said: "If such conduct is left unchecked it would have a direct effect on the general insurance premiums payable by all motorists in Singapore, in addition to being hard to detect and economically unfeasible to challenge.

"The wide social detriment caused by such fraudulent claims must be prevented by the imposition of deterrent sentence on perpetrators of such crime."

Of the other three men involved in the staged crash, one has been dealt with, one has still to be dealt with and one is at large.

Siti Irnawaty, who is three months pregnant with her second child, has repaid the $1,000 she received. She could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

This article was first published on July 15, 2016.
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