SINGAPORE: A bankrupt doctor was fined S$43,000 (US$33,600) by a court on Wednesday (Jul 9) for failing to disclose about S$4 million in assets.
Dr Goh Seng Heng, a 70-year-old Singaporean, had omitted to disclose assets including S$1.4 million in shares, as well as about S$1.2 million and US$900,000 owed to him by the Singapore Yacht Charter.
The fine was fully paid by his daughter.
Dr Goh is still an undischarged bankrupt and is listed as a registered doctor on the Singapore Medical Council’s website.
He pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Bankruptcy Act for not disclosing his disposal of certain assets, or not disclosing that those assets existed.
WHAT HAPPENED
Dr Goh was a well-known aesthetic doctor. In 2015, a Chinese businesswoman, Wang Xiaopu, launched proceedings against him for alleged fraudulent misrepresentation over the sale of his company’s shares to her.
The High Court in March 2023 held that Dr Goh, who founded the PPP Laser Clinic chain, had moved millions in assets to his family members with the intent to defraud his creditors.
Madam Wang obtained a judgment for a full return of her investment, with interest and costs, that amounted to more than S$40 million.
However, Dr Goh did not repay the money and instead voluntarily obtained a bankruptcy order in March 2020.
He was adjudged a bankrupt in March 2020 and the Official Assignee was appointed to administer his affairs in bankruptcy.
Today, he is still an undischarged bankrupt, with a total debt of about S$48 million owed to his creditors as of May 2025.
After his bankruptcy was declared, the Official Assignee wrote to Dr Goh to submit information necessary to make the statement of his affairs complete.
However, Dr Goh made a number of “material omissions”.
These include his shares in the Dr Michelle Goh company, disposed of in June 2015, and shares in GSHKML that were disposed of in February 2015, insurance policies disposed of in March 2020 and debts of more than S$2 million owed to Dr Goh by the Singapore Yacht Charter, which were disposed of in September 2017.
Dr Goh did not disclose that he had disposed of 760 shares worth S$306,766.40 to his wife, daughter and two sons for a total consideration of S$4.
He was supposed to have disclosed this, as it was done within five years before the date of his bankruptcy.
He also did not disclose that he had disposed of three shares worth S$1.38 million to his children for a total consideration of S$3.
Dr Goh also had a Prudential Insurance Policy with an initial value of S$162,744. However, he took out a loan of S$146,000 against this policy in March 2020 and did not pay back any part of this loan before terminating the policy by surrendering it for S$16,743.55.
He similarly took out a loan of S$278,000 against a policy valued at S$308,993 in March 2020 and surrendered it for S$30,993.
In September 2017, he assigned the debts worth more than S$2 million owed to him by the Singapore Yacht Charter to his wife for zero consideration.
A prosecutor from the Ministry of Law sought a total fine of S$43,000 for Dr Goh, saying his offences impeded the orderly administration of his bankruptcy estate.
MITIGATION
Defence lawyers, Mr Chooi Jing Yen and Ms Claire Chong from Mr Chooi’s eponymous law firm, did not object to the fine sought by the prosecution.
Mr Chooi said his client had no previous convictions and had indicated his plea of guilt early in the proceedings.
When Dr Goh self-petitioned for bankruptcy on Mar 6, 2020, he was unrepresented and acted as a layperson without the benefit of legal advice, said Mr Chooi.
When he submitted the requested information, he was also unrepresented and acting without legal advice, and the omissions were “inadvertent and unintentional”, said the lawyer.
Once the omissions were discovered, Dr Goh fully cooperated with the Official Assignee, said Mr Chooi.
He said Dr Goh had genuinely forgotten about several of the sums he omitted as they were disposed of too long ago or were relatively small.
Mr Chooi said Dr Goh, although bankrupt, has access to funds that are not available for creditors in the form of support from his daughter, who undertook to pay the fine on his behalf.
The lawyer cited the High Court case of Tan Beng Chua v Public Prosecutor, where the judge noted that there is no reason why, in appropriate circumstances, a fine cannot be considered where a bankrupt has access to such sources of funds.
Dr Goh faces other charges and is slated to stand trial for them.
