SINGAPORE: A company director who duped Tampines Town Council into paying for more expensive pumps than the ones his firm actually installed was jailed for three weeks on Tuesday (May 13).
In total, Zhang Shuyan overcharged the town council S$233,705.10 (about US$180,000), for which he has made full restitution.
Zhang, 59, earlier pleaded guilty to one amalgamated charge of falsifying 99 invoices submitted to Tampines Town Council in 2016.
A second amalgamated charge of falsifying a further 104 invoices in 2017 was taken into consideration for sentencing.
Zhang’s company, FYH Integrated, provided maintenance and installation services for electrical and mechanical systems, which included pumps.
From April 2016 to March 2019, it was in a contract with Tampines Town Council to maintain various types of pumps and refuse chute flushing systems in Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks.
The contract provided for FYH to replace defective pumps in the HDB blocks as necessary, among other services.
Between Apr 1 and Dec 31, 2016, FYH replaced 137 single-stage pumps in the Tampines estate.
Single-stage pumps were not found in the schedule of rates for FYH’s contract with the town council, which listed multi-stage pumps instead.
FYH and Tampines Town Council would therefore have needed to separately agree on a unit price for single-stage pumps.
However, FYH submitted quotations for multi-stage pumps, and the town council issued work orders for multi-stage pumps.
FYH then issued 99 invoices for the 137 pumps, invoicing the town council for more expensive multi-stage pumps instead of single-stage pumps.
Zhang approved this practice, motivated in part by any additional profit that FYH stood to earn as a result, Deputy Public Prosecutors David Koh and Yeow Xuan said.
He did the same with another 104 invoices for 130 pumps issued between Jan 1 and Jul 31, 2017.
Tampines Town Council paid FYH a total of S$380,551.04 in respect of the 203 fraudulent invoices.
The managing agent for Tampines Town Council at the time of the offences was CPG Facilities Management. CPG assisted to upkeep public facilities in Tampines, and managed and oversaw the performance of contracts.
EM Services took over as managing agent in August 2017, and the offences were discovered thereafter.
A property officer of the town council realised the disparity between the invoices and the pumps that were actually installed, and the town council sought a refund of the overpaid amount.
They agreed to a unit price of about S$550 for the single-stage pumps, against a unit price of about $S1,425 for multi-stage pumps.
The bulk of the refund was made by Tampines Town Council offsetting amounts from other invoices issued by FYH. Zhang restituted the remaining sum of about S$1,900 on Apr 2.
In sentencing, District Judge Kenneth J Chin noted that the offences were committed against a public agency that uses public funds, and took place over a sustained period.
He gave mitigating weight to Zhang’s full restitution of the illegal profit and decision to plead guilty.
The punishment for falsifying accounts is up to 10 years in jail, a fine or both. As Zhang’s charge was amalgamated, he could have faced double the penalty.
