SINGAPORE, June 25 — For more than four decades, Ng Hwee Phong had an extramarital affair and even jointly bought a landed home in the Upper East Coast area with his lover, Thum Sow Chan.
They then left in the mid-1980s to live elsewhere, while he and Thum continued living in the bungalow till it was sold around 2011 for about S$3.7 million. It was purchased around 1976 for S$160,000. Ng withdrew the remaining half shortly after and closed the account. He also withdrew the balance of about S$5,400 from their UOB account and closed it.In his ruling, Justice Maniam said he “generally preferred” Thum’s evidence over Ng’s, as it was more consistent with the written legal submissions she had made, though he called some aspects into question.
Justice Maniam accepted that Thum was not paid for her work, such as handling Ng’s correspondence and preparing accounting documents, at Seacon at any point. Because of this, Justice Maniam said it was “unsurprising” that the property was held as a joint tenancy in both their names.