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SINGAPORE: As treasurer for the People’s Action Party (PAP) Aljunied-Kembangan branch since 2004, it was Peter Lee Yoke Leong’s job to sort out the division’s bank accounts.
But the 43-year-old, now unemployed, decided to dip his hand into the branch’s coffers - an act that landed him in jail for eight months on Tuesday.
According to court documents, the branch was closed after the 2006 General Election and merged with the PAP Kampong Ubi branch, to form the PAP Kampong Ubi-Kembangan office.
Lee - one of the authorised signatories of the old branch’s current account with DBS Bank - was then tasked to close the account and transfer the residual funds to the account of the new office.
On Jan 2, 2007, he prepared a cheque for S$50,000 and cashed it at a DBS Bank branch at Raffles Place. But instead of banking the money into the Kampong Ubi-Kembangan account, he pocketed the cash.
Four months later, Lee withdrew another S$28,461.46 from the same account. In all, the former grassroots leader - who used to earn S$18,000 a month in a broking firm until he was retrenched in March 2007 - pocketed S$78,461.46.
Yesterday, he was jailed after pleading guilty to embezzling the cash between February 2 and June 27, 2007.
His crime was uncovered when the executive director of the PAP headquarters, Lau Ping Sum, lodged a police report on Aug 1 when officials noticed a discrepancy in the branch accounts.
Officers from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) arrested Mr Lee days later.
Lawyer Mr Noor Mohamed Marican pleaded for the court to be lenient to his client, a first time offender and father of two. Mr Noor also produced testimonials from Kampong Ubi-Kembangan Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) members, who attested to Mr Lee’s contributions to the ward.
District Judge Liew Thiam Leng noted that while Lee has paid back the money he misappropriated, the sum was nonetheless sizeable. Hence, a lengthy custodial sentence was necessary, especially as Lee had been holding a position of trust.
For criminal breach of trust, he could have been jailed for up to three years and/or fined. - TODAY/ra
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