SINGAPORE: Singapore tycoon Sam Goi (pic) has clarified that the private dinners involving Fujian gang member Su Haijin, who was later convicted of money laundering, and several Cabinet ministers had complied with safe-distancing rules to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Dubbed the “popiah king”, Goi on Friday (May 9) issued a statement saying he wished to provide further information on some photos that have been circulated on social media of private dinners involving Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, labour chief Ng Chee Meng, himself and others.
“I have checked my records,” said Goi, the owner and executive chairman of Tee Yih Jia Food Manufacturing, one of the world’s largest popiah (spring roll) wrap producers.
“The dinner with minister Chee was held on Nov 19, 2020, the dinner with Ng was held on May 1, 2021, and the dinner with minister Ong was held on May 10, 2022,” he said.
Goi had earlier told Bloomberg News that the dinner involving Ng took place “around 2020”.
“The group size on each occasion was in full compliance with the applicable Covid safe management measures at the material time,” he said on May 9.
At the time of the dinner with Ng on May 1, 2021, for example, people were allowed to gather only in groups of eight.
The dinners were held at Tong Le Private Dining in OUE Tower, TungLok Signatures at Orchard Rendezvous Hotel and Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee in Orange Grove Road.
When asked, a spokesperson for Goi did not say why Su had been invited to the private dinners.
Ng, the secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, had said the dinner he was at took place some time back. He added in a statement on May 6, 2025, that he had no further interactions with Su after police investigations and criminal charges were brought against the man.
He said it is part of his work as labour chief to engage with different companies and private-sector leaders.
Also on May 6, the press secretaries of Ong and Chee said in a statement that the ministers do not know Su personally, and do not have any contact with him.
Their statement added: “As ministers, they meet a diverse range of people at various events and gatherings. They attended the dinners at the invitation of a friend, and Su happened to be there.”
Su, a Cypriot national, faced 14 charges and was sentenced to 14 months in jail on April 4, 2024. He was deported to Cambodia on May 28 the same year.
He was one of 10 people found guilty of being involved in a S$3 billion money laundering case, which is one of Singapore’s largest.
Su was arrested following raids by the police’s Commercial Affairs Department at luxury homes across Singapore. While attempting to escape, he jumped off the balcony of the good class bungalow he was renting in Ewart Park in Bukit Timah, and fractured his feet and wrist.
Derek Goh, executive chairman and group chief executive of Serial System, a distributor of electronic components and consumer products, was also at the dinner on May 1, 2021, with at least seven others, including Su, Goi and Ng, The Straits Times has learnt.
Goh told ST in a phone interview on May 7 that Goi would “sometimes call us to have dinner and socialise”.
When asked, Goh said he did not know why Su was at that dinner.
“It was just a social networking event. I just met them at the dinner,” he said.
“But if I had known then that Su was in the money laundering line, I would not have gone.” - The Straits Times/ANN
