It is unlikely that the black Audi A6 driven by former diplomat Silviu Ionescu had been stolen, as he had claimed to the Singapore authorities.
Two Audi vehicle experts told the Coroner’s Court yesterday that the car has anti-theft features that make it impossible for it to be driven off with duplicate keys.
There were also no records that the embassy’s car key had been lost or stolen.
Mr. Boo Seng Yak, the assessor for all Audi vehicles that get into accidents here, said checks on the Audi A6 did not show any signs that it had been ‘tampered with or broken into’.
The other expert, Mr. Chan Kian Ann, a workshop manager with 19 years’ experience with Audi cars, went as far as to say that he knew of no cases of Audi vehicles being stolen here.
Both men told the court that every Audi A6 comes with three keys that are unique to each car.
Mr. Boo said: ‘This means that if the car is broken into by a person who does not have the authorised ignition key to the car, he cannot drive the car away.’
His checks on the car, found locked and abandoned in Sungei Kadut, came after police inspected it on Dec 15 last year - about 10 hours after Mr. Tong Kok Wai was killed in a hit-and-run accident involving the car earlier that morning.
Senior Station Inspector (SSI) Zainuddin Mohamed Saleh, a traffic police officer at the scene, also found no evidence that anyone had tampered with the keyhole of the car door.
The windscreen was smashed, the radiator grille cracked and both the bonnet, and the door on the driver’s side, were dented.
Questioned by Senior State Counsel Lau Wing Yum, SSI Zainuddin said that usually, the police would impound vehicles involved in such accidents for further inspections. However, Dr Ionescu was allowed to claim the car because he ‘just wanted the car back’.
When lawyer Subhas Anandan, who is acting for Mr. Tong’s family, asked why the former diplomat was not told that vehicles involved in accidents are usually impounded, SSI Zainuddin said it was because it was ‘an embassy car’.
According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the property of a diplomatic agent enjoys inviolability.
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No evidence to suggest car was stolen
04 March 2010
It is unlikely that the black Audi A6 driven by former diplomat Silviu Ionescu had been stolen, as he had claimed to the Singapore authorities.
Two Audi vehicle experts told the Coroner’s Court yesterday that the car has anti-theft features that make it impossible for it to be driven off with duplicate keys.
There were also no records that the embassy’s car key had been lost or stolen.
Mr. Boo Seng Yak, the assessor for all Audi vehicles that get into accidents here, said checks on the Audi A6 did not show any signs that it had been ‘tampered with or broken into’.
The other expert, Mr. Chan Kian Ann, a workshop manager with 19 years’ experience with Audi cars, went as far as to say that he knew of no cases of Audi vehicles being stolen here.
Both men told the court that every Audi A6 comes with three keys that are unique to each car.
Mr. Boo said: ‘This means that if the car is broken into by a person who does not have the authorised ignition key to the car, he cannot drive the car away.’
His checks on the car, found locked and abandoned in Sungei Kadut, came after police inspected it on Dec 15 last year - about 10 hours after Mr. Tong Kok Wai was killed in a hit-and-run accident involving the car earlier that morning.
Senior Station Inspector (SSI) Zainuddin Mohamed Saleh, a traffic police officer at the scene, also found no evidence that anyone had tampered with the keyhole of the car door.
The windscreen was smashed, the radiator grille cracked and both the bonnet, and the door on the driver’s side, were dented.
Questioned by Senior State Counsel Lau Wing Yum, SSI Zainuddin said that usually, the police would impound vehicles involved in such accidents for further inspections. However, Dr Ionescu was allowed to claim the car because he ‘just wanted the car back’.
When lawyer Subhas Anandan, who is acting for Mr. Tong’s family, asked why the former diplomat was not told that vehicles involved in accidents are usually impounded, SSI Zainuddin said it was because it was ‘an embassy car’.
According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the property of a diplomatic agent enjoys inviolability.
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