4 men to face charges for allegedly cheating govt agency of over $99,000 in upskilling funds
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The four suspects, aged between 39 and 47, are expected to be charged on Aug 1, the police said in a statement.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
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SINGAPORE – Four men will face cheating charges for their alleged involvement in misleading the authorities into disbursing more than $99,000 in funds.
The men, aged between 39 and 47, are expected to be charged on Aug 1, the police said in a statement on July 31.
They are believed to have cheated and falsified accounts linked to a Workforce Singapore (WSG) initiative called Professional Conversion Programmes.
The initiative is aimed at helping mid-career professionals, managers, executives and technicians with skills conversion, which will enable them to move into new careers and sectors with opportunities for progression.
The initiative also provides salary support – calculated based on the employee’s monthly salary – and course fee subsidies for eligible employers taking on new mid-career hires.
The suspects are a 45-year-old former director, a 47-year-old director, and two employees aged 39 and 46. All four worked for a wholesale business dealing in computer hardware and peripheral equipment.
Between June 2018 and October 2019, the former director registered the two employees for the WSG initiative.
He allegedly misled Supply Chain Asia Community, a programme partner appointed by WSG to administer the programme, into believing that the employees were paid the declared monthly salaries in their employment contracts when they were not.
Between April and July 2019, the 47-year-old director allegedly faked the employees’ payslips to submit to Supply Chain Asia Community.
The 39-year-old employee allegedly helped the former director by posing as an employee of the company to Supply Chain Asia Community, even after resigning from the company.
This meant Supply Chain Asia Community was deceived into continuing to disburse the grant payouts.
The 46-year-old employee is suspected to have conspired with the 45-year-old former director to get grant payouts by making Central Provident Fund contributions to his own account that were on a par with his inflated salary.
As a result of these actions, Supply Chain Asia Community disbursed $89,100 as salary support to the company, and upfront course fee subsidies of $10,010.
If convicted of cheating, the suspects can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined on each charge
Anyone found guilty of falsification of accounts can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both, on each charge.
