26 months’ jail for managing partner who misappropriated $259,000 from his own ad firm

SINGAPORE - The managing partner and co-founder of an advertising firm, who misappropriated $259,150 from his own company over a few years, was sentenced to 26 months’ jail on April 1.

After Leonard Kang Tze Chiang’s offences were discovered by the other co-founder of the firm in May 2021, he admitted to his wrongdoing and was given an opportunity to make restitution.

But Kang defaulted on the repayments, and the other co-founder lodged a police report a year later.

In December 2024, Kang, 63, pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust by an employee and a charge related to cheating.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Teo Siu Ming said Kang and Mr Thomas Aw Vern Ping started advertising service provider Okidoki in 2017.

In addition to looking after client accounts, Kang also managed the firm’s finances, performing tasks such as coordinating the submission of Okidoki’s tax returns, managing the employee payroll and making payments on behalf of the business.

He had exclusive control of the online iBanking functions of the firm’s bank account and was a co-signatory of the company chequebook along with Mr Aw.

For convenience and expediency, Mr Aw would routinely sign several blank cheques in the company chequebook so Kang could add the second signature in order to make payments on behalf of the firm.

This made it possible for Kang to misappropriate company funds – he filled in some of the cheques that Mr Aw had signed, withdrawing cash from Okidoki’s bank account and also depositing funds from the account into his own.

After Kang was declared a bankrupt in March 2019 and had to relinquish his directorship at Okidoki, he continued misappropriating its funds.

A business partner, Mr Khoo Boo Tiong, who was creative director at the firm, replaced Kang as co-signatory of the chequebook.

During this time, Kang would deceive Mr Aw and Mr Khoo into believing that he needed to use company funds to pay for Okidoki’s expenses.

The pair would then sign the cheques, which Kang would use to misappropriate money for his own use.

Kang returned to his role as a co-signatory of the firm’s cheques after he was discharged as a bankrupt on March 31, 2020, and resumed his earlier method of stealing his company’s money.

Some time in May 2021, Mr Aw reviewed records in Okidoki’s accounting software and discovered some irregularities.

After the police report was lodged, investigations also showed Kang had misappropriated money from the company’s bank account via iBanking.

During the investigations, Kang admitted he had committed the offences as he was facing financial difficulties at the time.

He has made restitution of about $40,000 to $50,000 to Okidoki.

The prosecution asked for a jail sentence of between 26 and 28 months, noting the level of sophistication involved in the offence and the difficulty of detecting Kang’s actions, which was partly due to the high degree of trust placed in him.