SINGAPORE, June 22 — Calling for three years’ jail for the scion of Metro Holdings, the prosecution said today that Ong Jenn, who had admitted to two counts of attempted possession of cannabis earlier, had bought cannabis from his supplier for over 15 times, and had no qualms sharing and selling drugs to his friends. 

Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, representing Ong, argued for a lower sentence of eight to 12 months’ jail in his written submissions.

In court, he also said Ong, the grandson of department chain Metro’s founder Ong Tjoe Kim, had been cooperative with the authorities from the start, and had also embarked on "self-rehabilitation”. 

District Judge Jasvender Kaur will deliver the sentence on July 12. 

For each charge of attempted possession of drugs, Ong faces up to 10 years’ jail and a fine of S$20,000 (RM61,697.50).

Last month, Ong, 41, was acquitted of two drug trafficking charges. Instead, he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted possession of cannabis.

The two charges were amended, after DJ Kaur found that prosecutors had not proven that Ong had trafficked a block of 92.68g of cannabis and another block of 385.1g of cannabis mixture. 

During a three-day trial in February, the prosecution charged that Ong had engaged in a conspiracy with convicted drug dealer Mohamad Ismail Abdul Majid to traffic cannabis in 2014. 

Ong claimed that he only had a "buyer-seller” relationship with his supplier Ismail, and he had bought the cannabis for personal use. 

Ismail was jailed 22 years and given 18 strokes of the cane in September 2015 after pleading guilty to three of seven drug-related charges.

Today, deputy public prosecutor Ong Luan Tze said: "The fact that the accused had no qualms about sharing the drugs with his friends puts an insidious spin to the reason behind why he was in possession of such a large amount of cannabis, and is an aggravating factor.”

But Tan countered that Ong had been addicted since the age of 20, and that addiction translated into a high consumption rate. 

"More importantly was the question of self-rehabilitation. From day one, he rehabilitated himself of a habit that plagued him for over 20 years,” said Tan.

DPP Ong rebutted that self-rehabilitation — post-arrest — pointed towards being self-serving. 

Ong faces another six related charges, including the consumption and possession of drugs.

These are currently at the pre-trial conference stage, and no plea has been taken thus far. — TODAY