SINGAPORE: A man who worked together with another to deceive the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) into disbursing more than S$30,000 (US$22,400) under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) during the COVID-19 pandemic was sentenced to eight weeks’ jail on Tuesday (Mar 25).
Alvin Yap, 60, pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating, with another eight charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
The Jobs Support Scheme, administered by IRAS, was introduced during the pandemic to provide wage support for employers to retain their employees.
Under the scheme, the government co-funded 25 per cent to 75 per cent of the gross monthly wages paid to each local employee through cash grants to help enterprises.
To detect and prevent abuse, an anti-gaming framework was introduced where IRAS would ask employers to conduct self-reviews, as well as provide declarations and supporting documents.
According to court documents, the Singaporean was the executive director of an aquaculture business at the time. His co-accused is Sean Tan Zheng Wee, a director of biotechnology firm Insect Feed Technologies (IFT).
Tan’s matter is pending before the courts, and he faces 13 charges.
In June 2020, Yap engaged in a conspiracy with Tan to deceive IRAS into believing that 10 employees performed work for the month of May so that they could obtain the JSS payout.
In order to generate wage payment records that were consistent with the Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions, Tan paid wages to the employees in question but required them to return the sums to his personal bank account.
Investigations revealed that the employees did not receive any wages, save for CPF contributions.
Their scheme was uncovered after IRAS conducted follow-up interviews with a number of IFT employees and discovered that they had returned the wages they had received to Tan’s personal bank account and/or had received contributions to their CPF account even before they started employment with IFT.
As a result, IRAS did not pay out the October 2020 JSS grant to IFT.
The court heard that Tan had come up with the idea of taking advantage of the scheme and had shared his plan with Yap on a “high-level basis”.
Tan asked Yap to assist with providing the cash necessary to pay the CPF contributions, which Yap agreed to do.
He provided about 35 per cent of the cash needed – this worked out to about S$22,568 – which went towards the May 2020 CPF contributions of IFT’s employees.
Despite knowing that IRAS would not have approved the JSS payout if it was aware that IFT was getting its employees to return their wages to Tan, Yap agreed to assist in carrying out the plan.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordon Li sought a sentence of at least two months’ imprisonment, arguing that there is a need for general deterrence to safeguard national resources.
In calibrating the sentence, the prosecution said Yap’s liability was “clearly” lower than Tan’s, as it was the latter who came up with the scheme and was the primary actor in carrying out the scheme.
“In contrast, the accused’s role, while crucial, was limited to the extent of providing funds for the payment of CPF contributions for IFT’s employees in order to obtain the JSS grants,” said Mr Li.
In seeking a lighter sentence for his client, the defence highlighted Yap’s “passive participation” and low level of involvement in the scheme, adding that he was remorseful.
In sentencing, District Judge John Ng said a custodial sentence – which refers to a judicial punishment involving imprisonment or confinement in a closed institution – was warranted in this case and that it had to send the “right signal”.
“The government, in giving out the grants, … is (trying) to help everybody. We cannot have situations where you all take advantage or deceive.”
For cheating, Yap could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
