Chia Sze Chang v PP: Public Entertainment Licensing, Breaches, and Adverse Inference

Chia Sze Chang appealed against his conviction in the High Court of Singapore for three breaches of the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act. The charges related to singers sitting with customers and unregistered women serving drinks at his KTV lounge. Yong Pung How CJ dismissed the appeal, upholding the District Judge's decision and emphasizing the need for a heavy fine as a deterrent.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court of Singapore

1.2 Outcome

Appeal dismissed

1.3 Case Type

Regulatory

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Appeal regarding breaches of public entertainment license. The court upheld the conviction, emphasizing the need for deterrence.

1.7 Decision Date

7 October 2002

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
Public Prosecutor	Respondent	Government Agency	Conviction upheld	Won	Winston Cheng Howe Ming of Deputy Public Prosecutor
Chia Sze Chang	Appellant	Individual	Appeal dismissed	Lost	Sarbrinder Singh of Dhillon Dendroff & Partners SS Dhillon of Dhillon Dendroff & Partners

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Yong Pung How	Chief Justice	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Winston Cheng Howe Ming	Deputy Public Prosecutor
Sarbrinder Singh	Dhillon Dendroff & Partners
SS Dhillon	Dhillon Dendroff & Partners

4. Facts

Police raid on Tiananmen KTV & Lounge on 23 December 2001.
Appellant, Chia Sze Chang, was a co-owner of the establishment.
Singers were found sitting and chatting with customers.
Unregistered women were found serving drinks to customers.
Appellant was charged on three counts under the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act.
Appellant had been fined previously for similar breaches.

5. Formal Citations

Chia Sze Chang v Public Prosecutor, MA 175/2002, [2002] SGHC 232

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2001-12-23	Police conducted a raid on Tiananmen KTV & Lounge
2002-10-08	Judgment issued

7. Legal Issues

Breach of Licensing Conditions
- Outcome: The court found that the appellant had breached the licensing conditions.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Failure to ensure singers did not sit with customers
  - Failure to ensure only registered staff served customers
Adverse Inference
- Outcome: The court held that no adverse inference should be drawn against the prosecution for not calling certain witnesses.
- Category: Procedural
- Sub-Issues:
  - Failure to call material witnesses
Findings of Fact by Trial Judge
- Outcome: The court upheld the trial judge's findings of fact, emphasizing the deference appellate courts give to such findings.
- Category: Procedural
- Sub-Issues:
  - Credibility of witnesses
  - Assessment of evidence

8. Remedies Sought

Appeal against conviction
Appeal against fine

9. Cause of Actions

Breach of Public Entertainment and Meetings Act (Cap 257)

10. Practice Areas

Regulatory Offences
Appeals

11. Industries

Entertainment

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
Ang Jwee Herng v PP	High Court	Yes	[2001] 2 SLR 474	Singapore	Re-stated the principle that an appellate court will be slow to overturn findings of fact by the trial judge, especially when an assessment of credibility and veracity of the witness has been made; prosecution has no obligation to call any particular witness, unless the failure to do so could be shown to be motivated by an intention to hinder or hamper the defence.
Shamsul bin Abdullah v PP	Unknown	Yes	MA145/2002	Singapore	Appellate court will be slow to overturn findings of fact by the trial judge especially when an assessment of the credibility and veracity of the witness has been made.
Lim Ah Poh v PP	High Court	Yes	[1992] 1 SLR 713	Singapore	Appellate court will be slow to overturn findings of fact by the trial judge especially when an assessment of the credibility and veracity of the witness has been made.
Teo Keng Pong v PP	High Court	Yes	[1996] 3 SLR 329	Singapore	Appellate court will be slow to overturn findings of fact by the trial judge especially when an assessment of the credibility and veracity of the witness has been made.
Ng Soo Hin v PP	High Court	Yes	[1994] 1 SLR 105	Singapore	Appellate court will be slow to overturn findings of fact by the trial judge especially when an assessment of the credibility and veracity of the witness has been made.
Sundara Moorthy Lankatharan v PP	High Court	Yes	[1997] 3 SLR 464	Singapore	Appellate court will be slow to overturn findings of fact by the trial judge especially when an assessment of the credibility and veracity of the witness has been made.
R Yoganathan v PP	High Court	Yes	[1999] 4 SLR 264	Singapore	Addressed the issue of adverse inference under s 116 illustration (g) of the Evidence Act when the prosecution did not call certain witnesses to give evidence.
Chua Keem Long v PP	High Court	Yes	[1996] 1 SLR 510	Singapore	The prosecution has no obligation to call any particular witness, unless the failure to do so could be shown to be motivated by an intention to hinder or hamper the defence.
Roy S Selvarajah v PP	High Court	Yes	[1998] 3 SLR 517	Singapore	The prosecution has no obligation to call any particular witness, unless the failure to do so could be shown to be motivated by an intention to hinder or hamper the defence.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Public Entertainments and Meetings Act (Cap 257, 2001 Ed) s 19(1)(c)	Singapore
Evidence Act s 116 illustration (g)	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Public Entertainment
Licensing Conditions
Adverse Inference
Findings of Fact
Deterrent Sentence
Nelsonian knowledge

15.2 Keywords

Public Entertainment
Licensing
Breach
Appeal
Singapore
KTV
Nightclub

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Public Entertainment Law	80
Licensing	75
Statutory offences	70
Offences	70
Administrative Law	60
Criminal Law	50
Criminal Revision	40

16. Subjects

Public Entertainment
Licensing
Regulatory Offences