Ex-Shell worker admits to role in $200 million gas oil heist

A second former Shell Eastern Petroleum employee linked to a case involving more than 300,000 tonnes of stolen gas oil worth over $200 million - the largest ever in Singapore - admitted to his role in the offences yesterday.

Former authorised gas safety tester Muhammad Ashraf Hamzah worked with his then colleagues to misappropriate 55,321 tonnes of gas oil worth nearly US$25 million (S$33 million) between 2014 and 2016. He has made no restitution to Shell.

He received at least $700,000 in ill-gotten gains for his participation in the conspiracy.

The 39-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty in a district court yesterday to nine counts of criminal breach of trust involving gas oil worth more than US$18 million.

Nine other similar charges linked to the remaining amount will be considered during sentencing.

Ashraf also admitted to one count of laundering a portion of his ill-gotten gains when he bought a Volvo car worth about $200,000 in 2017.

In December last year, another former Shell employee, Sadagopan Premnath, 40, admitted to his role in misappropriating gas oil worth about US$36.1 million between 2017 and 2018. The Indian national will be sentenced next month.

The cases involving alleged accomplices, including Muzaffar Ali Khan Muhamad Akram, 39, and Juandi Pungot, 44, are pending.

The oil heist took place at Shell Pulau Bukom, the company's largest petrochemical production and export centre in the AsiaPacific.

The court heard that some time in 2007, Juandi and another man, identified as Abdul Latif Ibrahim, started a conspiracy to misappropriate gas oil from Shell.

They began to conduct "illegal loadings for the Anic 1 bunker ship", a vessel owned by Sentek Marine & Trading, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Stephanie Chew.

"Juandi and Latif were able to continue undetected as they would tamper with the bunker meter. Emboldened by their success, Juandi and Latif continued to expand their criminal enterprise," she added.

The court heard that between 2008 and mid-2013, the pair expanded their illegal loadings to many other bunker ships, and recruited other colleagues, including Ashraf, who was roped in no later than 2010. The DPP said Muzaffar was recruited between late 2007 and early 2008.

Four men, including Juandi and Ashraf, received up to $15,000 for each illegal loading, the court heard.

Ashraf finally left the syndicate in 2016 as he did not want to be involved any further.

Shell later found that it had suffered an unidentified loss of fuel and one of its representatives alerted the police in August 2017.

Ashraf, who is represented by lawyer Anand Nalachandran, is out on bail of $50,000.

He will be sentenced on March 2.

For each count of criminal breach of trust, an offender can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined.