Man jailed for taking S$13,000 from employer; also wore SAF lieutenant colonel’s uniform when he didn’t hold the rank

SINGAPORE — Armed with a few ways to exploit the payment systems at Soup Restaurant, where he was training to be a manager, Chew Kai Zhang pocketed S$13,780 from three of its outlets.

He got away with his cheating ways for about seven months before his boss conducted a surprise cash count at the Century Square outlet. 

Court documents also showed that he wore the uniform of a lieutenant colonel from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) at Pasir Laba Camp on Sept 9 last year, though he did not hold the rank. It was not stated why he did so or from where he got the uniform.

On Wednesday (Oct 30), the 38-year-old was sentenced to eight months’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust.

Two other charges of wearing garb belonging to a class of public servants, as well having an iPhone 4S that he could not account for at the Jurong Division headquarters the day after he was caught wearing the uniform, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Chew, who also goes by the name Aus’tin, earned a monthly salary of S$3,000 as a manager-in-training at the restaurant from Feb 1 to Nov 5 last year.

He would consolidate the outlets’ daily earnings, supervise cashiers and teach management trainees.

HOW HE STOLE THE MONEY

About a month after he began working there, he realised that he could tamper with the point-of-sale system by altering the items in a customer’s bill if they paid with cash.

He started pocketing an average of S$80 to S$100 every day for about three days a week. 

In June last year, he was sent to work at the Century Square outlet. He discussed the company’s cash control policies with his bosses there so he could discover any further loopholes to exploit.

He eventually saw customers leaving without paying their bills in full as they were allegedly not served the dishes that they ordered.

The cashier would then be given approval to “void” items from these bills. 

However, Chew would order the cashier to serve customers so that he could take over cashier duties himself.

He then began “voiding” these items using the point-of-sale system or the company iPad.

Chew did this when customers paid in cash and then pocketed the excess payments when tallying the sales proceeds at the end of the day.

He was also able to employ similar tactics when customers paid by credit card.

By July last year, he was misappropriating as much as S$300 a day and this increased to about $500 a day by September. 

His crimes came to an end on Oct 28 last year when a senior manager of the firm’s food-and-beverage operations department went to the Century Square outlet to check the sales records.

He discovered that discrepancies in the records occurred only when Chew was working.

The senior manager’s colleague made a surprise cash count there and also uncovered discrepancies in the cashier till. 

When he interviewed Chew about it, Chew admitted to his crimes and was suspended while the company investigated further.

After looking at closed-circuit television footage and point-of-sale transactions, it was discovered that Chew had taken money from the Nex, Holland Village and Century Square outlets.

TOOK MONEY FOR FATHER’S BILLS

In mitigation, Chew’s lawyer TM Sinnadurai said that he had “come clean from the beginning” and had taken the money to pay for his father’s medical bills.

Chew’s father is suffering from late-stage cancer and that was “his only motivation for committing the offence”, his lawyer added.

While Mr Sinnadurai also pointed out that Chew has made full restitution, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En argued that he did so only after the prosecution offered to reduce the charge if he did.

Chew will start serving his sentence on Nov 27. Mr Sinnadurai said that he is working at another restaurant and has to tender his resignation.

For criminal breach of trust, he could have been jailed up to seven years, or fined, or both.