Company director tricked Tampines Town Council into paying extra $233,000 for pumps
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SINGAPORE – A company director has admitted to billing Tampines Town Council to pay for a more expensive product instead of the actual product he had provided.
Zhang Shuyan, the Singaporean managing director of electrical and mechanical maintenance and installation firm FYH Integrated, pleaded guilty on April 3 to one charge of falsifying accounts to the town council.
One similar charge will be taken into consideration during his sentencing on April 17.
Company records show the 59-year-old and his wife had incorporated the firm in 2009 with $500,000.
The company, which is currently in liquidation due to insolvency, entered into a three-year contract with Tampines Town Council in February 2016.
FYH was responsible for the maintenance, servicing and repair of pumps within the Housing Board blocks under the town council’s purview. It was also contracted to replace defective pumps within the HDB blocks.
The contract included a schedule of rates, with a list of items and their corresponding prices, that FYH would bill the town council for.
Between April 2016 and July 2017, Zhang’s firm replaced 267 single-stage pumps within the Tampines estate. Single-stage pumps were not listed under the agreed schedule of rates.
The court heard that Zhang billed the products as multi-stage pumps which, according to court documents, cost $1,425.28 each, compared with a single-stage pump that cost $549.98.
The town council received 203 invoices for the replacement of the pumps and paid more than $380,000 to FYH.
Zhang’s scheme came to light some time in 2017, after the town council’s managing agent realised FYH had been charging it for multi-stage pumps even though only single-stage pumps were used.
After he was found out, Zhang agreed to refund the extra amount that the town council had paid out to his company, which was more than $233,000. He fully repaid the amount over a period of nine months.
Those found guilty of falsifying accounts can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined for each charge.
