High Court Rejects Attempt by Nail Palace Managing Director to Replace Jail Sentence with a Fine

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (“CCCS”) has today successfully defended the District Court’s earlier order for a jail sentence for the managing director of Nail Palace Entities^[1], Kaiden Cheng Kai Teng (“Kaiden Cheng”). Justice Audrey Lim however reduced the duration of jail to 3 months instead on account of the Appellants’ compliance with the publication orders just before Chinese New Year this year. 

Two Nail Palace Entities had appealed against the jail sentence earlier meted out by the District Court against Kaiden Cheng.^[2] In today’s hearing, Justice Audrey Lim held that Kaiden Cheng must be imprisoned for 3 months for failing to ensure that the Nail Palace Entities complied with court orders obtained by CCCS under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003 (“CPFTA”). The High Court stressed that a jail sentence was warranted in view of Kaiden Cheng’s and the Nail Palace Entities’ “continuing, egregious, and persistent disregard of court orders”, and the “substantial and irremediable prejudice” caused by their failure to inform consumers of the unfair trade practices that the Nail Palace Entities had engaged in.

Please refer to the media release for more information.

^[1] This refers to two business entities of Nail Palace, namely Nail Palace (BPP) Pte. Ltd. and Nail Palace (SM) Pte. Ltd. 

^[2] For more information on the court orders and the judgement of the District Court, refer to https://www.ccs.gov.sg/media-and-events/newsroom/announcements-and-media-releases/nail-palace-entities-and-their-managing-director-found-guilty-of-contempt-of-court/.