Former executive of thumbdrive inventor Trek 2000 jailed for cheating, falsifying accounts

SINGAPORE: The former divisional president of mainboard-listed Trek 2000 International – the tech firm behind the invention of the thumbdrive – was on Monday (May 8) sentenced to two months’ jail for falsifying accounts and cheating.

Foo Kok Wah, 52, was earlier convicted of two charges – for conspiring with three former Trek 2000 executives to cheat the company’s auditors and for instigating another employee to falsify documents.

His sentencing is the final of four cases involving Trek 2000 founder Henn Tan, former executive director Poo Teng Pin and former chief financial officer Gurcharan Singh.

They received a jail sentence of between nine months and 16 months.

Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department revealed that Tan, Singh and Poo conspired to falsify the company’s statements for the financial year that ended on Dec 31, 2015, by recording a fictitious sale worth US$3.2 million (S$4.2 million) to Taiwanese manufacturing firm Unimicron Technology.

When the company’s auditors Ernst & Young (EY) raised concerns about the purported sale and requested supporting documents, the trio decided to inform EY that Colite Technology, not Unimicron, was the counterparty to the fictitious sale.

Foo’s role was to address EY’s queries on the fictitious sale.

He conspired with Tan, Singh and Poo to deceive EY into believing that the sale was genuine, and that Trek 2000’s FY2015 financial statements had been drawn up accurately.

They also prepared a document setting out a false chronology of events relating to the fictitious sale.

“To lend credence to the false chronology of events, Foo further instigated an employee to create a false tax invoice and delivery order reflecting that a sale was made to Colite,” said the police.

The prosecution said the offences affect the integrity of the financial markets, involve an abuse of authority, and were planned and premeditated.

Foo held “substantial authority” in his position, the prosecution said.

“When asked to assist to cover up a fraud, he should have declined and reported the matter to the authorities,” it added.

“Foo gravely abused his authority and breached the trust imposed in him.”