By Sia Ling Xin

A GROUP of 17 Singapore dive enthusiasts who went for a trip to Malaysia more than a week ago found
themselves with $20,000 less.

For their six-day-five-night trip, they were told by Mr Lim Lye Heng, 37, director of dive shop Reeffinder International, to pay an extra RM1,930 (S$824) each after reaching Malaysia - on top of the $1,180 they had already paid.

His reason: The cheque given to the Sipadan resort in East Malaysia, where they would be going the next day, had bounced.

"He said we have to arrange our own flights back if we didn't want to pay. The situation was intimidating," said one of the divers, Ms Sharon Lim.

The group had to fork out an additional RM1,152 as well, for one night's stay at their stopover at Semporna, she said.

The 32-year-old assistant marketing manager said Mr Lim told them he would work out the repayment details when
they returned to Singapore last Tuesday.

my paper contacted Mr Lim on the phone yesterday. "I knew I could not pay them immediately when we reached Singapore," he said, attributing the problem to "personal problems with money and debt".

"I was not thinking straight, I was desperate," he added.

He said that a friend had agreed to lend him money to out the day before the trip, which left him scrambling.

"What's the point of blowing this up now? Do they want me to go to prison? I'm already trying to pay them back slowly," he said. "Now I'm trying to find a job as a driver or something so I can pay these divers back in instalments."

A friend of Mr Lim, Mr Colin Koh, turned up at the airport when the dive team returned. Mr Koh, a travel agent, said he was at the airport because he knew Mr Lim had "run into some problems".

"I offered the divers some money to buy time for him, as he is my friend," he said.

When the divers decided to lodge a police report, Mr Koh said he would give them $300 each if they would not do so until a week later. But they did not take up his offer.

"The dive industry needs some regulation to prevent this from happening," Ms Lim explained.

"He signed IOUs for each of us, and gave us photocopies of his identity card and passport," she said. The handwritten IOU has a thumbprint on it, she said.

The police have confirmed that at least 10 reports were made and are looking into the matter.

lingxin@sph.com.sg

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