Swab assistant at COVID-19 test centre gets jail for misappropriating S$14,000 worth of ART kits
File photo of antigen rapid test kits mailed out by MOH on Aug 28, 2021.
SINGAPORE: A swab assistant working at a COVID-19 Quick Test Centre helped her site manager to cover up an over-ordering of Antigen Rapid Test (ART) kits by misappropriating them.
Audrey Sau Qi Ng, 25, was sentenced to two weeks' jail on Tuesday (Jan 17).
She pleaded guilty to a charge each of misappropriation and converting the kits to cash.
The court heard that Sau was a swab assistant at Tekka Quick Test Centre during the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked under site manager Deng Xiangying, 28.
The centre provided supervised ART tests to the public during the pandemic.
Around Sep 19, 2021, Deng realised that an employee at the centre had miscalculated the stock of ART kits and caused the centre to over-order from the Health Promotion Board (HPB).
Deng was concerned that she and her colleague would get into trouble with HPB and her employer over this. She wanted to cover up the mistake, so Deng and Sau decided to take the extra cartons of ART kits home from the testing centre.
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed that Deng and Sau met Deng's sister outside Tekka Quick Test Centre on Sep 19, 2021.
Deng's sister was there to pick up mooncakes for delivery. Sau was shown in CCTV footage carrying out two cartons of ART kits from the test centre, while another colleague carried a third carton out.
In total, the pair dishonestly misappropriated 103 boxes of ART kits.
They decided to sell the ART kits on Carousell for profit, using Deng's account.
They sold 44 boxes of ART kits to 19 customers in total, earning S$5,363.70. The remaining boxes were recovered during investigations.
The case was uncovered when an unknown person made a report to the police on Oct, 2021, that the duo had been selling ART kits for profit. Court documents did not reveal who made the report.
Deng had been sentenced in November to three weeks' jail and ordered to pay S$2,505.25 in compensation.
Sau was allowed to begin her jail term on Jan 25.
