Retired actor Nick Mikhail intends to raise funds to cover $13k fine over vaporiser devices

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Feb 9, 2023

Retired local actor Mikhail Abdul Razak has indicated on Thursday that he intends to plead guilty to charges he faces involving vaporiser devices, described in court documents as items resembling tobacco products.

Nick Mikhail, as he is better known, who has appeared on shows on Malay language television channel Suria, is expected to plead guilty on March 9.

On Thursday, a prosecutor from the Health Sciences Authority told the court that it will be proceeding on seven charges and that Mikhail will be fined $13,000.

Mikhail, 44, who was not represented by a lawyer, told District Judge Lorraine Ho that he now has $5,000 to cover the fine amount and intends to raise more funds.

He added that he had spent $39,000 to repair damage to the roof of his house.

Mikhail faces 32 charges under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act.

A check with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority reveals that he is a director at an apparel company called FlamboyantSociety.Co.

He also used to be the owner of two other firms, The3Hundred – which provided brokerage and consultancy services on intellectual property assets – and Redruby Pictures.

Mikhail had earlier made headlines when he posted videos on social media platform Instagram complaining about the behaviour of three enforcement officers from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and three policemen who inspected his home amid the Covid-19 pandemic on July 31, 2021.

He asked why the officers could enter his home at night without a warrant or court order.

URA said in response that safe distancing enforcement officers could enter, inspect and search various premises – including residences – without a warrant, but that they would calibrate their approach based on each case.

In the current case, he allegedly offered for sale on Instagram two sets of vaporiser devices, designed to resemble tobacco products, on Aug 11, 2019.

He is said to have committed similar offences in the following months.

Nick Mikhail posted videos on Instagram about URA officers and police officers entering his home on July 31, 2021. PHOTO: NICK MIKHAIL/INSTAGRAM

Among other things, he was also allegedly found to be in possession of a Smok vaporiser device at the State Courts at around 5.30pm on Sept 26, 2019.

Court documents did not disclose why he was at the courts at the time.

He is also accused of having in his possession a Moti vaporiser device in a unit at Parc Olympia condominium in Flora Drive, near Upper Changi Road North, on May 5, 2020.

There has been a ban on the import and sale of electronic vaporisers or e-vaporisers in Singapore since 1993, when all imitation tobacco products were prohibited.

E-vaporisers, which include e-cigarettes, are battery-powered devices that heat up a liquid, called vape juice, containing nicotine, producing a vapour that is inhaled.

In February 2018, it became illegal to buy, use or possess harmful or imitation tobacco products such as e-vaporisers.