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Man jailed for submitting forged SCDF documents

This article is more than 12 months old

As a national serviceman in the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Loh Wei Ming served as an admin clerk in the logistics department.

But when he later tried to clinch a job with a private ambulance provider, Loh, now 30, lied that he was a trained paramedic with the SCDF and submitted forged documents as proof.

Loh, who now works as an Uber driver, was jailed for six months yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of forgery by submitting a bogus SCDF service transcript to the Royal Ambulance Services (RAS) in June 2014.

Two other counts of forgery involving fraudulent copies of documents the SCDF had purportedly issued - an Automated External Defibrillation certificate and a Basic Cardiac Life Support certification card - were taken into consideration during sentencing.

In 2014, Loh had applied for a job as a medic at RAS and its director Mr Alias Othman, 47, called him up for an interview.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said: "As a medic, (Mr Alias) expected (Loh) to care of patients and to perform first aid for them. (Mr Alias) thereafter enquired with (Loh) what his experience was in the medical field. (Loh) informed (him) that he was a trained paramedic with the SCDF."

TRANSCRIPT

Loh provided the company with a photocopied service transcript purportedly issued by an SCDF officer and RAS then employed him as a part-time paramedic on June 2, 2014.

APP Thiagesh told District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt that as Loh had a driving licence, he was also asked to fulfil the job responsibilities of a driver.

However, he was terminated on Oct 19 that year for not following Mr Alias' instructions.

Five days later, Mr Alias noticed that Loh's photocopied service transcript was different from the one submitted by another employee who was also from the SCDF.

He felt suspicious and decided to check with the organisation.

Loh's offences came to light when the documents were found to be forged.

The director lodged a police report on Nov 24, 2014.

In mitigation, Loh's lawyer Mr Amolat Singh said: "He was never required to nor did he ever carry out any paramedic duties or procedures on anyone throughout his employment with Royal Ambulance.

"At all times, he had a properly trained medic or nurse with him in the ambulance who attended to the patients he was conveying in his ambulance. In short, no lives were ever at risk nor did his forgery lead to any loss to anyone."

Singapore Civil Defence Forcepolicenational service