FORMER National Kidney Foundation (NKF) chief executive T. T. Durai will have to go to jail for three months.

Durai, 59, on Friday lost his appeal to the High Court against his conviction and sentence last June for using a false invoice to deceive NKF into releasing $20,000 to his interior designer friend David Tan.

His request to begin serving the jail term from June 10, because his 80-year-old mother is going for glaucoma and cataract surgery next Tuesday, was allowed.

In dismissing Durai's appeal, Justice Tay Yong Kwang said that he found no reason to disagree with the lower court decision, apart from an irregularity in how the district judge had issued his judgment.

Durai did not show any emotion on hearing the verdict.

Although he has no further avenue of appeal, criminal proceedings against him have yet to draw to a close.

He continues to face a similar charge for using a false invoice to approve a $5,000 payment from NKF to an advertising company.

This was one of the two criminal charges that were laid against Durai in 2006. It was stood down when he went on trial for the current charge.

Last June, District Judge Aedit Abdullah convicted and sentenced Durai after a trial of more than 20 days.

About 15 people attended court, including lawyer Glenn Knight and former army colonel Ong Beng Leong, both of whom have been convicted and jailed for the same offence.

A pre-trial conference for the outstanding charge against Durai has been fixed for next Wednesday.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.