Former company vice-president jailed 14 years for cheating close to S$5m
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SINGAPORE — Through a scheme that involved creating fictitious job requests and quotations, a former vice-president of a property and engineering firm cheated her company of close to S$5 million. She then used the money to invest in local and overseas properties, as well as buy luxury goods.
Linda Lee, who faced 361 charges relating primarily to cheating and money laundering, was sentenced to 14 years' jail on Friday (Sept 8).
Lee, now 39, was working under the asset management division of United Engineers Developments, a subsidiary of United Engineers Limited (UEL), when she committed those offences between 2010 and 2015.
UEL deals with property, engineering and manufacturing services.
Investigations by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) showed that Lee had colluded with four other individuals to provide fictitious quotes to UEL for maintenance works, although these were never carried out.
She had used her position to request, certify and award these works to several companies, one of which belonged to her.
After UEL had made the payments, Lee would either keep the proceeds or split the money with her accomplices. Through this ploy, Lee acquired about S$4,977,400.
Her alleged accomplices - Ng Shu Jun, Tan Aik Gee, Tan Kiam Boon and Wong Weng Kong - have also been charged and their cases are currently before the court.
About one-third of the charges that Lee faced involved her using part of the illegal money obtained - about S$2,976,200 - to purchase two insurance policies, four properties in Singapore and two in Batam Indonesia, a second-hand car and luxury goods, which include watches, handbags and jewellery.
She had also tried to conceal some S$1,120,000 by instructing several individuals to deposit the monies into their bank accounts before transferring them into her own POSB bank account.
Following CPIB's investigations, several bank accounts, insurance policies and over 500 luxury items and branded apparel -- which all added to about S$900,000 -- were seized.
Of the total amount seized by CPIB, about S$885,000 have been returned to UEL.
