SINGAPORE: Four men were charged on Friday (Aug 1) with cheating and falsifying accounts for the purpose of obtaining government grants and subsidies from a scheme meant to help mid-career individuals switch jobs.
The four men are: Former director Samuel Sim Choon Hock, 45, director Tay Sze Kiang, 47, and two employees, Wong Siong Yann, 39, and Leonard Lim Tze Yuen, 46.
They were said to be from AK Global Tech, a wholesale company dealing in computer hardware and related equipment.
Sim faces three charges of cheating, while Tay was handed one charge of falsifying accounts. Wong and Lim each received one count of cheating.
The offences were in relation to Workforce Singapore’s Professional Conversion Programmes (PCP), which helped mid-career professionals, managers, executives and technicians convert their skills and enter new careers with opportunities for progression. The PCP was rebranded to Career Conversion Programme in August 2021.
The PCP provided salary support and course fee subsidies to eligible employers taking on mid-career new hires. Salary support was computed based on the employee’s monthly salary.
Supply Chain Asia Community is one of programme partners appointed by Workforce Singapore to administer the PCPs.
Between June 2018 and October 2019, Sim registered Lim and Wong for the PCP and allegedly misrepresented to Supply Chain Asia Community that they were paid the declared monthly salaries in their employment contracts when they were not, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a press release.
Sim is said to have filed fraudulent claims that AK Global Tech paid a gross monthly salary of S$6,000 (US$4,600) to Lim between November 2018 and July 2019, and paid 30 per cent of Lim’s Supply Chain Asia Community course fee.
In 2018 and 2019, Sim is said to have cheated Supply Chain Asia Community into believing that AK Global Tech paid a gross monthly salary of S$3,750 to Wong for periods within the same years, and paid 30 per cent of his Supply Chain Asia Community course fee.
Between April and July 2019, Tay allegedly falsified five payslips to show that Wong received a gross monthly salary of S$3,750 from AK Global Tech between February and June 2019.
Wong allegedly aided Sim by continuing to represent himself as an employee of AK Global Tech by signing logbooks between February and June 2019, even after he had resigned. In this manner, he allegedly deceived Supply Chain Asia Community into continuing to provide salary support.
Lim is alleged to have conspired with Sim to cheat Supply Chain Asia Community in order to obtain grant payouts.
He is said to have made Central Provident Fund contributions to his own account that were commensurate with his inflated salary of S$6,000 from November 2018 to July 2019. He also allegedly paid 30 per cent of his Supply Chain Asia Community course fee.
As a result of their actions, Supply Chain Asia Community disbursed a total of S$89,100 as salary support to AK Global Tech and granted upfront course fee subsidies of S$10,010, according to the SPF.
Tay, Wong, and Sim’s cases are fixed for further mention on Aug 29, while Lim’s case will be heard again on Sep 2.
If convicted of cheating, an offender may be jailed up to 10 years and fined.
If convicted of falsification of accounts, a person could be jailed up to 10 years, or fined, or both.
