SINGAPORE: A former finance manager of an advertising company was sentenced to 11 years' jail on Friday (Apr 6) for swindling his employer of S$3,193,738.
Gene Chong Soon Hui, 43, was slapped with 194 charges, including 165 counts of cheating spanning eight years, from 2007 until 2015. The rest were for falsifying the company’s accounts to hide the fraud.
Chong pleaded guilty this year to 20 charges involving S$1,016,833 he swindled out of O2 Advertising.
A district court heard that Chong, a long-time employee, was so trusted by the agency’s directors that they handed him pre-signed cheques without question each time he said he needed to pay a supplier.
Chong would write his name and bank account number on the cheques before encashing them. Each time, he pocketed S$62,060 to S$79,715.
As a result, the company’s expenses increased considerably. To hide the fraud, Chong falsified the agency’s sales revenue, recording increased production costs and raising fake invoices, Deputy Public Prosecutor V Jesudevan said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHe called for a jail term of at least 12 years, pointing to the “staggering” amount of money involved and the fact that Chong has not returned a cent. Chong's lawyer, on the other hand, sought a jail term of eight years.
For cheating and falsifying the agency’s accounts, Chong could have been jailed for up to 10 years per charge and fined.
Let's block ads! (Why?)
More...