Former tutor linked to O-level cheating case acquitted of one remaining charge against him

Feng Riwen had been accused of instigating a student to leave Singapore for China. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - A former tutor linked to an O-level cheating case and was earlier found guilty of 27 counts of cheating after a trial has been acquitted of one remaining charge against him.

However, the remaining charges against two of his accomplices - Poh Yuan Nie, 54, and her niece Fiona Poh Min, 33 - still stand.

Chinese national Feng Riwen, 28, who used to work at the now defunct Zeus Education Centre in Tampines Street 34, was sentenced last month to two years and four months' jail for his cheating offences.

A pre-trial conference over his remaining charge relating to the perversion of justice was held on Thursday (Oct 15) and he was then given a discharge amounting to an acquittal for it.

This means Feng cannot be charged again with the same offence. He had been accused of instigating a student to leave Singapore for China on the day the youngster was caught for cheating in his exam in October 2016.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times on Friday, an Attorney-General's Chambers spokesman said: "Having considered the facts and circumstances of the case, the prosecution decided not to proceed with the accused's charge."

Feng's two Singaporean accomplices - the education centre's principal Poh Yuan Nie and her niece Fiona Poh Min - were each found guilty of 27 counts of cheating on July 7.

On Sept 16, Poh Yuan Nie was sentenced to four years' jail, while Fiona Poh was sentenced to three years' jail.

After a pre-trial conference on Thursday, the two women were not acquitted of the remaining charges against them.

Both of them are still accused of one count each of obstructing, preventing, perverting or defeating the course of justice.

Poh Yuan Nie also has another 10 pending charges over alleged offences, including more counts of cheating. The women's next pre-trial conference will be held on Oct 30.

The trio and another woman, Tan Jia Yan, 34, had helped six students cheat in their papers during the 2016 O-level examinations. Tan was sentenced to three years' jail last year over her role in the ruse.

A few hours before each examination, Fiona Poh, Tan and Feng helped to tape communication devices on the students.

The students then attended the examinations with these devices taped to their bodies, carefully concealed by their clothes.

Tan also took the examinations as a private candidate and used the FaceTime application on her phone to present a live stream of the question papers to the co-accused stationed at the tuition centre.

Her accomplices then worked on the questions streamed to them. After that, Feng and the others called the students to read the answers to them. Poh Yuan Nie oversaw the entire process, the court heard.

The operation was exposed on Oct 24, 2016, when an alert invigilator heard "unusual electronic transmissions and voices" coming from one of the students.

After the examination, the student was taken to an office, where he handed over the devices, including Bluetooth receivers and an earpiece. He also came clean about how the ruse was carried out.

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