SINGAPORE, March 3 —  Mediacorp actor Terence Cao was charged yesterday with flouting Covid-19 safe distancing rules over a birthday party held at his condominium unit last October.

Another Mediacorp artiste, Jeffrey Xu, had posted a photograph on his Instagram Stories of the 13-person gathering, which involved two other artistes.

Cao, 53, is accused of allowing 12 others who were not members of his household to enter and remain at his residence at Daisy Road near Braddell Road on October 2 last year, between 9pm and 1am.

Another man who was at the party, Lance Lim Chee Keong, 50, was also charged yesterday. He faces a single charge of gathering with 12 others. 

He had allegedly invited three of the other guests despite knowing it would exceed the permissible group size.

At the time, Singapore was in the second phase of reopening from the circuit breaker, with a five-person cap on gatherings to curb the potential spread of Covid-19. 

If convicted under Covid-19 laws, Cao and Lim could be jailed up to six months or fined up to S$10,000 (RM30,488), or both.

Cao is represented by lawyer SS Dhillon from Dhillon & Panoo LLC, while Josephus Tan and Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation are defending Lim.

The other party guests, including Mediacorp actor Shane Pow and 987FM deejay Sonia Chew, were each issued a S$300 composition fine.

According to court documents, the guest list also included actor Jeremy Chan and actresses Dawn Yeoh and Julie Tan.

The Building and Construction Authority had earlier said that in deciding to fine instead of prosecuting the guests, the authorities had assessed their "level of culpability in relation to the breach”. 

It added that an advisory had also been issued to the management corporation of the condominium, to remind it to take steps to ensure that residents comply with safety regulations. 

Mediacorp has also previously told TODAY that it took the matter seriously and had fully cooperated with the authorities on their investigations. 

"We do not condone the actions of the four artistes and the company has conducted an internal review and disciplinary actions will be taken. Safety is a priority. We constantly brief and remind our artistes to adhere to safe management guidelines, both in their professional and personal capacities,” it added. 

"The artistes deeply regret and take responsibility for their actions. They apologise for the mistake and assure everyone that this will not happen again. ― TODAY