Ex-vice-president admits to cheating company of over $10million, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Ex-vice-president admits to cheating company of over $10million

This article is more than 12 months old

An asset management vice-president siphoned off about $1.7 million from the company she worked for through a company she had set up using her father's name.

And with the rest of the more than $10 million she took from her employer, Linda Lee, 39, bought multiple properties, luxury goods and a car.

Mr Lee Foo Wah, whose age was not given, was not in the know when his daughter set up LT Engineering Consultancy some time in 2011.

Lee, who pleaded guilty yesterday to 28 cheating offences, was then working for UE ServiceCorp Singapore, a subsidiary of United Engineers Limited (UEL).

She told her father that LT Engineering would be doing general works. In fact, her sole purpose in creating it was to siphon off money from UEL.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jasmin Kaur said: "The accused would submit fictitious job requests and quotations and ensure the jobs were awarded to LT. When payment was made, the accused would enlist the help of Mr Lee to withdraw the money from the LT account and she would keep the money for herself."

From 2010 to 2015, she used the same ruse to make personal gains of at least $5 million before she was terminated from her post in June 2015. She had four alleged accomplices: Wong Weng Kong, Ng Shu Jun, Tan Kiam Boon, and Tan Aik Gee, the manager of a construction firm known as Ying Xin Services. Their cases are pending.

Lee also created fictitious jobs and submitted false quotations, which were rigged for the jobs to be awarded to Ying Xin Services. After payment was made, Tan Aik Gee would allegedly keep half for himself and give the remainder to Lee.

Lee used a similar ruse for jobs to be awarded to companies that Wong had set up. After payment was made, Wong would allegedly cash the cheques and keep 10 per cent for himself. The remainder would then be split between Tan Aik Gee and Lee.

DPP Kaur said extensive fund-tracing efforts by the authorities revealed that Lee had converted almost $3 million of her ill-gotten gains into big-ticket items such as a condominium here.

Lee pleaded guilty to seven counts of converting the proceeds of her criminal activities. Another 325 charges for similar offences will be taken into consideration during sentencing. Lee is now out on bail of $100,000 and will be back in court on Sept 8.

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