Man forges mum's signature, sells Rolls Royce to settle debts from buying flower garlands for female singers

After frequenting clubs and buying flower garlands for female singers, Liu Kuei Liang fell into debt.

In desperate need of money, the 33-year-old resorted to forging his mother's signature to sell her two cars to a dealer. 

Liu, also known as Kent, was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail on on March 22 for two charges of forging sales and purchase agreements. 

According to the judgement made available on March 27, Liu got into debt in August 2022. 

He decided to sell his mother's cars — a Rolls Royce Dawn 6.6 V12 and a Mini Cooper SE —  and contacted Low Lye Seng, a car dealer from Autoart Singapore, on Aug 1, 2022. 

The men agreed that the Rolls Royce would be sold for $700,000 and the Mini Cooper for $130,000. 

To give Low the impression that he was facilitating the transaction, Liu lied that his mother was in Taiwan and claimed he would obtain her signatures when she returned.

He later forged her signatures in Chinese characters on the agreements.

Liu also gave another Autoart representative his Taiwan-based friend's number when the latter asked for his mother's number to confirm the sale of the two vehicles. 

The friend helped him approve the sale. 

Low then authorised a deposit payment of $100,000 for the Rolls Royce and $50,000 for the Mini Cooper to Liu via PayNow. 

On Aug 16, Liu's mother lodged a police report, saying her son had forged the signatures for the sale of the cars without her consent. 

The two cars were later returned to her after she paid back the $150,000 deposit to the car dealer. 

The Rolls Royce was subsequently sold in April 2023 for $1 million. 

Police report made in a 'moment of pique': Defence lawyer

The prosecution had sought four to six months jail for Liu, noting that the amounts in the case involved were "very high". 

Liu's lawyer, Vijai Dharamdas Parwani, sought a high fine instead.

He said that Liu's mother allowed him to use the cars as and when required, so Liu thought he could obtain "temporary financing" by selling the cars in "a momentary lapse of judgement". 

He said mother and son have since reconciled, and she would not be asking him to pay back the $150,000 deposit that she forked out to get her cars back. 

Parwani added that Liu's mother had made the police report in "a moment of pique". She has since forgiven her son and signed a statutory declaration in August 2023 to withdraw the report.

In sentencing, District Judge Brenda Chua said there were two victims in this case — the car dealer who suffered a $150,000 loss, as well as Liu's mother, who had to pay $150,000 for her son, who also took advantage of her. 

She noted that Liu did not make any amends on his own. 

"Despite being a victim of the accused’s crime, the mother nonetheless stepped forward to pay so that she could have her own cars returned. The accused relied on the mother to rescue him from his mistakes," said the judge. 

For each count of forgery, Liu could have been jailed for up to four years, fined, or both. 

Liu is appealing against his sentence and is out on bail pending appeal. 

READ ALSO: Police nab former car salesman who allegedly cheated customers out of over $100k

claudiatan@asiaone.com