SINGAPORE - A spa operations manager masterminded a scheme and defrauded government-launched financial support initiatives aimed at helping parties affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Between July and August 2020, Gay Kah Leong, who was then working for Kings Spa, submitted to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) items such as false declarations in an attempt to cheat it into disbursing Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) payouts totalling $50,326.

The police said on Thursday that inconsistencies were later detected, and the monies were not disbursed.

In a separate incident in April 2020, he also cheated the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) into disbursing a Temporary Relief Fund (TRF) application for himself. MSF was then duped into disbursing a $500 one-time cash grant to him.

Gay, 31, who has since made full restitution, was sentenced to 13 months’ jail on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted cheating and one count of cheating.

Multiple people, including former Kings Spa employees, were earlier given jail sentences over their roles in similar offences. Among them was Gay’s wife, Deidrea Tan Zhong Lin, who was the spa’s director at the time. Tan, then 31, was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail in July 2022.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En said that JSS was a grant scheme aimed at providing wage support to employers and helping enterprises retain their local employees.

Under the initiative, the Government co-funded between 25 per cent and 75 per cent of the first $4,600 of gross monthly wages paid to each local employee through cash subsidies.

Employers did not have to apply for the scheme, as the cash grants were automatically computed based on mandatory Central Provident Fund contribution data.

TRF was aimed at providing support to Singapore citizens and permanent residents who became jobless or lost a substantial portion of their income due to the pandemic.

Individuals had to submit supporting documents such as their retrenchment letters with their applications.

On April 7, 2020, Gay submitted two TRF applications online for himself. In the applications, he falsely declared that he had lost at least 30 per cent of his personal income.

He also provided falsified payslips and salary adjustment letters bearing Kings Spa’s letterhead. MSF later approved one of the applications and disbursed $500 to him.

Gay later tried but failed to cheat Iras of $50,326. He had submitted false declarations and employment documents to the agency to try and dupe it into disbursing JSS payouts involving 36 individuals.

Among other things, some of these people were falsely declared as having worked for Kings Spa.

The false declarations and bogus employment documents were submitted to Iras as part of a JSS self-review that Kings Spa was selected to perform.

In September 2020, Iras lodged a police report, stating the spa had provided false information as part of the self-review.

On Thursday, defence lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan told the court that Gay had learnt a valuable lesson and was remorseful.

His bail was set at $15,000, and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on March 10 to begin serving his sentence.