2 men to be charged with breaching Covid-19 laws after birthday party involving Mediacorp artistes

Two men will be charged in court on March 2 after Covid-19 safe distancing rules were breached during a birthday party involving 11 others last October.

In a media release on Monday (Feb 1), the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) did not identify the parties involved, but added that one of the two individuals who will be charged is the 53-year-old owner of the residential unit where the birthday celebration allegedly took place.

He had allegedly breached Covid-19 laws by allowing 12 other people who were not members of his household to enter and remain at his home at Daisy Road on Oct 2 last year.

According to photos uploaded by actor Jeffrey Xu on Oct 3 onto his Instagram Stories, 13 people were at the celebration, in what looked to be a private residence, with Xu holding a cake. Celebrities present in the photo include Xu, Sonia Chew, actors Terence Cao, Shane Pow, Jeremy Chan and actress Julie Tan. No one was wearing a mask.

The other man, who was one of the visitors, will be charged with gathering outside his ordinary place of residence with 12 other people who were not from his household.

If found guilty of their offences, the two men can be jailed up to six months, fined up to S$10,000 or both.

Besides the two men, the 11 other visitors who had attended the birthday celebration had been issued with a composition fine of S$300 for participating in the social gathering of more than five persons.

Last year, deejay Sonia Chew was dropped from hosting Mediacorp’s annual countdown show amid investigations into whether Covid-19 safe distancing regulations were breached at a birthday party for actor Jeffrey Xu.

At the time of the party, only up to five people could gather outside the household and each household had a limit of five visitors at any one time. /TISG