•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Singaporean businessman, lawyer, race horse owner and judo master Loo Choon Beng, who had a string of brushes with the law, was found dead in Guangzhou, China, earlier this month.

He was also reportedly behind the first high-tech baccarat casino scam in the Philippines, where three government-run casinos lost 160 million pesos ($3.77 million) in May.

A close friend, who declined to be named, told The Straits Times yesterday that Loo, 58, was found dead in his hotel on Aug 3 or 4.

A mutual friend attended the funeral in Guangzhou, and was told Loo had either died in his sleep or from complications arising from health problems, which included diabetes and high cholesterol.

The funeral is believed to have been attended only by very close friends and a few family members.

It is understood that he could have been using non-Singapore travel documents at the time of his death.

Media reports in the Philippines said that in May, Loo - who reportedly went by the alias of Ben Lui and was at times identified as a Malaysian - and three accomplices were charged in Manila with running a gambling syndicate.

According to reports in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the gang had allegedly used hidden cameras to cheat at baccarat games in three casinos run by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), defrauding the state-gaming firm of about $3.77 million.

All four posted bail but later fled the country, said the Inquirer.

The scam has been the subject of an ongoing debate in the Philippine House of Representatives' Committee on Justice and Committee on Games and Amusement.

Some media reports there said Loo died in Macau earlier this month, but Straits Times sources said he died in China.

According to close friends, Loo had been living in the Philippines for the past few years after several run-ins with the law here.

They said he ran several gambling businesses there and would also travel to Macau and China, where he ran similar businesses and dabbled in horse racing.

Before he left Singapore about six years ago, Loo was well known in horse-riding circles here as “Fatty Loo” because of his physique.

In the 1980s, the divorcee and father of two daughters owned more than 50 horses. He was a familiar figure at race meetings in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang.

His love for horse racing also got him into trouble with the Malaysian authorities. In 2000, he was held under Malaysia's preventive detention laws for alleged involvement with syndicates fixing the outcome of horse races at Malaysian turf clubs.

The Home Ministry in Malaysia ordered him to be detained for two years at the Simpang Renggam detention centre in Johor.

The detention under the Emergency Ordinance was believed to be the first initiated against a “high-ranking” member of bookmaking syndicates. He was released after five months.

The former student of Raffles Institution (RI) made news at age 22 when he won a gold medal in judo in the 1975 Southeast Asia Peninsula (Seap) Games.

He practiced at law firm Loo & Loo for five years in the 1980s after he graduated.

In 1988, he was said to have spat in a Singapore Airlines stewardess' face, after she accidentally spilt a soft drink on him during a flight from Hong Kong to Singapore.

He was also accused of grabbing her arm, turning her around violently and raising his arm and threatening to slap her. The case was settled out of court.

In 1995, he was suspended from legal practice for three years for misconduct and he stopped practicing law after that.

His father - then bankrupt - had wanted to make some money by acting as a middleman between the seller and the buyer of a property. Loo helped him to manipulate the transactions.

He then went into business, running a nursing home, travel agency and investment firms.

In 1996, OCBC Bank filed a suit against him and a fellow lawyer for a S$80.6 million loan which they failed to repay.

That same year, Loo was also sued by OCBC for not paying back a S$4.5 million personal loan, and in 2001 the bank moved to declare him a bankrupt.

It is believed that he left for the Philippines shortly after that. It is understood that many of his friends distanced themselves from him after learning of his problems.

Despite his brushes with the law, those close to him described him as an easygoing man.

“He was a good boss and a nice person, very affable,” said lawyer Andrew Chia, 58, who practised at Loo & Loo and who has known him since their school days.

“It was a shock to hear about his death, and I hope he has made his peace with his maker.”

Another close school friend, who stayed in touch with Loo and bumped into him in Manila three years ago, described him as “always positive and hopeful.”

Loo is understood to have eight brothers, including Dr Loo Choon Yong, executive chairman of the Raffles Medical Group.

Calls to Dr Loo were not answered and he was not in his office when The Straits Times visited last week and yesterday.

The Straits Times also visited the home of his former wife and children, and was told that “no such person stays here anymore.”

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.