Local entrepreneurs have been getting into the news recently for all the wrong reasons.
Over the weekend we read with fascination how entrepreneur Looi San Cheng, owner of Tip Top Curry Puff, was jailed two weeks for tax evasion.
Tip Top Curry Puff, which started operating in the corner of a grimy Ang Mo Kio coffeeshop since 1979, has been so successful it expanded its business to China under his son’s guidance. Such success even led it to being lauded by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last year for entrepreneurial spirit.
And then came the charges of tax evasion. The authorities found that Looi had been under-declaring his takings for years, despite consistently making more than $100,000 in annual profit for the past six years. During one year, Looi even claimed that he made a loss!
In another recent case, the founder and chairman of listed technology firm Stratech Systems Dr. David Chew was hauled to court for kicking a 61 year-old locksmith in the groin. Ouch.
A well-known local businessman (he was The Rotary-Asme Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999), Chew allegedly attacked the locksmith when the latter picked the lock of the gate of Chew’s Belmont Road home (at the orders of his wife).
Tsk tsk.
How about some good news for a change?
Has any local entrepreneur made a contribution to society lately? Supported a cause, or donated to charity?
Let me know.
