Four men were charged in court on Wednesday (July 28) over their involvement in a Telegram group containing leaked sexual videos and images of women.

The four men - Yee Wing Kay, 46; Andy Wong Ming Jun, 28; Lincoln Anthony Fernandez, 30; and Tan Yeow Chong, 40 - were charged with multiple counts of possessing obscene films and transmitting obscene materials.

The Telegram group, named "Sam's lots of CB Collection", included photos of individuals in the nude, of women dressed scantily or in compromising positions, as well as videos of sexual acts.

Political analyst cum prime mover

One of the men, Andy Wong Ming Jun, was featured on TodayOnline last month for his story of how he became a prime mover driver upon returning from Singapore after his graduation from a UK university.

Most recently, Andy wrote a column for Nikkei Asia last week on the Singapore government's handling of the country's COVID outbreak.

According to sources from Sammyboy Forum, Andy was instrumental in distributing obscene materials from the Telegram group. The other 3 individuals, Lincoln, Tan and Yee were the group's administrators.

Charges

Andy was handed six charges of possessing 1,880 obscene images in six different devices, and five charges of possessing a total of 2,406 obscene videos across five devices at a flat in Jurong West.

Meanwhile, Tan was handed one charge of sending six obscene images to the chat group on 4 November 2019, and three charges of possessing 7,713 explicit images across three devices. He also has three charges of possessing 19,932 illicit video files in three devices that were found in a Bukit Merah flat.

Yee was handed three charges of transmitting four obscene videos and one picture to the group on unknown dates. He was also charged with four counts of possessing 72 obscene images in four devices, and three counts of possessing 18 illicit videos in three devices found at flat in Bishan.

Lincoln received four charges of transmitting seven explicit images to the group on unknown dates and 15 October 2019. He also faces one charge each of possessing 406 obscene images and possessing 118 obscene films at a Yishun flat.

Andy, Lincoln and Tan are Singaporeans. Yee is a Malaysian with Singapore permanent residency.

Arrested in November last year

The police said they received a report against the Telegram group on Oct 24, 2019, and arrested four men responsible for the upkeep and the distribution of the obscene contents in the group on Nov 6 that year.

"Subsequent investigations revealed that three of the men were believed to be administrators of the Telegram group, while the fourth had advertised the sale of the obscene materials," said the police.

Electronic devices were subsequently seized from them and obscene materials, including thousands of video files and pictures, were uncovered from forensic examination.

The police said they consulted the Attorney-General's Chambers this month to charge the four men, upon the conclusion of investigations.

Their cases will be heard again on Aug 28.