Contractor who sabotaged rivals' posters at BTO estates gets 10 days' jail
Lee Sai Koon, 75, was jailed for 10 days on Sep 22 for sabotaging rivals' advertisements at new BTO estates in Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh. He spray-painted a notice board and cut his own posters, damaging property, and pleaded guilty to three mischief charges.
SINGAPORE: A contractor who sabotaged rivals' advertisements at new Build-to-Order (BTO) housing estates was sentenced to 10 days' jail on Tuesday (Sep 22). Lee Sai Koon, a 75-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to three counts of mischief, with two other charges taken into consideration.
Lee was the sole proprietor of Tong Sheng Impex, a company that designed, manufactured and installed metal storage racks. He was part of a group of competing contractors who sabotaged each other's advertisements in new BTO estates, court documents stated. The sabotage aimed to render competitors' posters ineffective, such as by cutting or covering them up.
On the morning of Jun 29, 2025, Lee went to Block 246A, Ang Mo Kio Street 21 to put up posters advertising his metal racks. He saw a competitor had already put up six posters on a notice board at the ground-floor lift lobby. Lee tried to open the locked notice board cabinet, then retrieved a can of black spray paint from his vehicle and sprayed it over the posters. His actions were captured on closed-circuit television footage, but his identity could not be ascertained at the time. A resident later made a police report.
Despite being questioned by police, Lee continued his sabotage. On Aug 27, 2025, he went to Block 403A, Lorong 1 Toa Payoh with his wife. They entered lifts lined with acrylic boards and removed competitors' posters before putting up their own in five lifts. After affixing his posters, Lee used a penknife to cut them, making them difficult for rivals to remove as they would come off in bits. The cuts also damaged the acrylic boards. Between August and September 2025, residents of Blocks 403A and 403B in Lorong 1 Toa Payoh lodged 13 police reports about the posters and cuts.
Lee was arrested on Jan 26, 2026. His wife received a conditional warning. Deputy Public Prosecutor Mark Chia sought a short jail term and read out a long list of Lee's past convictions, numbering more than 10, dating from the 1970s to the 2000s. Lee's lawyer, Mr Low Cheong Yeow, asked for five days' jail, citing his client's poor health. The penalty for mischief is a maximum of two years' jail, a fine, or both. Lee had been charged along with two other men, Joo Tat Chong and Kevin Lee Wei Qiang, whose cases are pending.
