This is the second time David Yong has been allowed to go overseas amid his pending criminal proceedings. - Photo: ST
SINGAPORE: Businessman David Yong, who was featured in the Netflix series Super Rich In Korea and accused of multiple offences, has once again been permitted to travel out of Singapore on business.
This is the second time the beleaguered businessman has been allowed to go overseas amid his pending criminal proceedings.
On Tuesdy (Aug 12), about a month after his previous trips to South Korea and Malaysia, Yong’s lawyer Navin Naidu applied for his client to travel to these same countries.
A district court allowed Yong to travel to Seoul from Aug 15 to 24, and Kuala Lumpur from Aug 28 to Sept 1.
The Kuala Lumpur trip is also for Yong to assist in separate police investigations based on reports filed by him, said Naidu.
The lawyer did not divulge further details. The Straits Times understands that Yong was the complainant in this separate case, which is unrelated to his current criminal charges.
The 38-year-old Singaporean, whose full name is Yong Khung Lin, is the chief executive of a group of companies collectively known as Evergreen Group Holdings.
Yong, who is represented by Naidu, Philip Teh and Aaron Lim of Dentons Rodyk & Davidson, was charged in 2024 with four counts of falsification of accounts.
On June 3, he was handed his fifth charge involving more than 1,000 promissory notes made by a company linked to him.
In granting him permission to travel, the court ordered that his current bail of $1 million be increased by another $500,000.
While overseas, Yong has to report twice daily to the investigation officer by video calls and location sharing, down from three times a day during his previous trips.
The prosecution did not object to Yong’s application to travel overseas.
Yong was previously allowed to travel to Seoul from July 4 to 11, and Kuala Lumpur from July 14 to 21 to attend to urgent matters for his businesses overseas, including securing new office premises.
This came after three failed applications to travel overseas. On his third application on March 20, District Judge Brenda Tan had found Yong to be a serious flight risk.
He held a Cambodian passport under the name “Duong Dara” that he claimed to have surrendered to the Cambodian authorities in June 2024.
However, Judge Tan said then that there was no official confirmation on the whereabouts of this document.
It was also revealed in court that Yong had allegedly sought another passport from Grenada, an island nation in the Caribbean.
On June 27, during Yong’s first successful application to travel overseas, Naidu said the issue of the whereabouts of Yong’s Cambodian passport is now “conclusively resolved”.
Naidu also said Yong has no interest in applying for any other foreign passports.
Yong was featured in the Netflix series Super Rich In Korea as one of the “super rich”.
Just three months after his appearance on the show, he was arrested on Aug 1, 2024, and charged in court two days later.
Yong’s next pre-trial conference will take place on Sept 5. - The Straits Times/ANN
