Jail for woman who duped MSF into giving her $6.6k of Covid-19 grants

SINGAPORE – A woman who duped the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) into disbursing $6,600 worth of Covid-19 grants to her when she was not eligible for them was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail.

Chen Xiao, 39, pleaded guilty to three cheating charges and one forgery charge on Jan 15.

Chen, a Chinese national and Singapore permanent resident, had applied to receive payments under two grants meant for those who lost their jobs due to Covid-19, even though she lost her job before the pandemic hit.

The first grant she applied for was the Covid-19 Support Grant (CSG), which was administered by the MSF to help Singapore citizens and permanent residents who were unemployed or experienced a loss of income because of the economic impact of Covid-19.

The application window ran from May 4, 2020, to Dec 31, 2020.

The other grant she applied for was the Covid-19 Recovery Grant (CRG) to help Singapore citizens and permanent residents in lower to middle-income households who experienced involuntary job loss, involuntary no-pay leave or income loss due to the pandemic.

The application window ran from Jan 18, 2021, to Dec 31, 2022.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Stephanie Koh said Chen was previously employed by J Koion, a Japanese restaurant at Zhongshan Mall. Court documents did not state what role she previously held at the restaurant.

The restaurant ceased operations on Nov 15, 2019, and Chen become unemployed on that date.

The DPP said Chen was aware that because her unemployment was before Jan 23, 2020, and not due to the economic impact of Covid-19, she was not eligible for both the CSG and CRG.

In May 2020, Chen made an online application for the CSG and stated that she had lost her job due to Covid-19 on Feb 1, 2020.

This application was rejected that month as Chen had not submitted any supporting documents from her former employer.

When Chen saw this, she contacted the former owner of J Koion, Ms Wang Yan, to ask for a letter in support of her CSG application.

Ms Wang said she could not provide Chen with such a letter but suggested that she create one herself.

DPP Koh said that in May 2020, Chen faked a retrenchment letter from J Koion that stated her employment was terminated from Feb 1, 2020, and a signed “payment voucher” that stated she had received $1,000 as her salary for January.

In May and October 2020, Chen made two CSG applications which MSF approved, leading to the ministry disbursing $4,800 to her.

In January 2021, Chen made a CRG application, which was also approved by MSF, and received $1,800.

Her offences came to light when an MSF officer noticed that Chen’s retrenchment letter had various fonts and suspected it had been forged. The ministry subsequently reported the matter to the police.

Chen has since made full restitution, said the DPP.

Those convicted of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and are also liable to a fine.