A 25-year-old Malaysian man has been jailed for one year and fined $4,000 after arranging for two Japanese women to come to Singapore to work as prostitutes.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the man, Wu Wenhong (25, name transliterated), started out as a runner for an online prostitution syndicate called FanzaSG. Later, he became the manager. He earned between $3,000 to $4,000 by helping arrange hotel bookings and collecting money from clients and the women.
Wu faced nine charges under the Women’s Charter. He pleaded guilty to five of them on Monday (30 June), and the rest were taken into consideration during sentencing.
On 7 March this year at about 5.22pm, police raided a hotel at Marina Bay Sands and arrested Wu along with two Japanese women aged 26 and 27.
Investigations revealed that Wu joined the online vice ring in August last year after being recruited by a man named Wang Chisan. At first, Wu earned 10% commission, which was later increased to 20%.
After Wang was arrested in January this year, Wu took over as the manager. On 11 January, he contacted one of the Japanese women who had previously worked in Singapore and invited her to return between 27 February and 7 March. She agreed and brought another friend along.
Wu then advertised their services online and worked with a man named Zhang Kai (46, name transliterated) to book hotel rooms and set them up.
During the 9 days, Wu paid Zhang Kai $2,100 and collected $25,900 from the Japanese women. He changed part of the money into Chinese yuan to pay them and kept around $3,000 to $4,000 for himself.
The prosecutor said Wu played a managerial role in the syndicate, liaising with both customers and the prostitutes, and also handled hotel arrangements. The prosecution asked for 11 to 13 months’ jail and a $4,000 fine.
The judge sentenced him to 12 months’ jail and fined him $4,000.
