4 men charged over S$6.2 million fraudulent mortgage scheme using violinist's Katong home

SINGAPORE: Four men have been charged in relation to attempts to obtain over S$6 million (US$4.7 million) in fraudulent mortgage loans using a professional violinist's landed residential property as collateral.As part of the scheme, the men allegedly took on various roles to forge the alleged victim's identity card, use it to impersonate him and submit fraudulent documents to apply for mortgage loans.The violinist, Mr Elgar Kwek Chong Hee, was purportedly lured away from his Katong home so property valuations could be conducted on the place, the police said in an earlier news release.He later lodged a police report after discovering that a caveat had been lodged against his property for a loan application that he had not authorised.The four Singaporean men charged on Tuesday (Nov 10) were: Andrew Li Xianneng, 36, Lazarus Ching Fei Fan, 27, Ernest Fan Zhenhao, 39, and Terence Tan Jun Ming, 29.Preliminary investigations suggested that fraudulent documents had been used to apply for mortgage loans with Mr Kwek's property used as collateral, the police said in an earlier news release.Further investigations suggested that the four men had worked with a fifth man, named in charge sheets as Cozen Nova Khor, with the intent to obtain fraudulent mortgage loans of more than S$6 million from two credit companies using Mr Kwek's property as collateral.Li was charged with conspiring with Mr Khor and a person named only as Joydep to unlawfully issue an identity card.He allegedly directed Joydep to issue an NRIC belonging to Mr Kwek, sometime between February and April this year.Fan was given six charges including possessing this forged identity card in Mr Kwek's name, abetment of cheating and using a forged electronic record as genuine.Ching was given two charges of engaging in a conspiracy with Mr Khor in an attempt to cheat two credit companies - VM Capital and Comfort Credit - of S$6.2 million in total.As part of this conspiracy, Ching allegedly contacted Mr Kwek to engage him for a violin performance on two dates: Feb 6, 2026 and Apr 1, 2026.Tan was given one count of conspiring to cheat VM Capital by facilitating the viewing of the property at 4B Swanage Road, and facilitating the handover of a title deed between law firms YY Lee & Associated and Jacob Mansur and Pillai.Mr Kwek reportedly also used the vintage 1960s Swanage Road property as a curated private events space.Fan is accused of attempting to cheat VM Capital of S$3.3 million in a conspiracy with Mr Khor by impersonating Mr Kwek to sign a letter of offer by VM Capital in Waterloo Street in January this year.He allegedly presented a forged Singpass page to a staff member in relation to this attempt.He also allegedly impersonated Mr Kwek to sign a letter of offer by Comfort Credit in March 2026, in an attempt to cheat the credit company of S$2.9 million in conspiracy with Mr Khor.On the same day, Fan also allegedly presented a forged Singpass page to a someone at a law firm.Fan is also accused of presenting a forged Singpass page to a lawyer on Dec 5, 2025, intending to use the forged electronic record for the purpose of cheating.The cases were adjourned to December except for Tan's. He had a pre-trial conference fixed for later this month.For unlawfully issuing an NRIC, an offender could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.For conspiracy to cheat, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.For possessing a forged identity card, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.