Jailed for pocketing $287k of welfare group's money

A former administrative manager at a welfare organisation embezzled funds, forged bank statements and gambled with her ill-gotten gains for five years before she was caught.

Yesterday, Chin Nyuk Khuen, 66, was sentenced to 30 months' jail after she was found guilty of three charges of criminal breach of trust, one charge of committing forgery and one charge of fraud. Five other charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that Chin, who appeared in court using a wheelchair, suffers from renal disease and this was a mitigation factor in her sentencing.

Between 2013 and 2018, Chin misappropriated $287,290 from Char Yang (Dabu) Lee Chee Association, which provides welfare to the Hakka community, by collecting and keeping rent and event payments. She then spent the sum on gambling and various personal expenses.

Her crimes were discovered after the former treasurer of Char Yang (Dabu) Lee Chee Association filed a police report on Jan 30 last year.

The Straits Times understands that there is another Hakka association - the Char Yong (Dabu) Association Singapore. The two associations are unrelated.

The court heard that Char Yang (Dabu) Lee Chee Association's main source of revenue was rental income from properties it leased to tenants. As the administrative manager, Chin collected the rent, prepared receipt vouchers for it, and deposited the payments into the association's OCBC Bank account.

Between February 2016 and December 2018, she received and kept rental payments amounting to $225,900 from two tenants, and later spent the money on gambling and personal expenses, and treating her friends to meals.

To conceal the crimes, Chin forged bank statements by using Microsoft Word to create a table of transaction details similar to actual OCBC account statements. Within this table, she included false cash deposits from the rental payments, event payments collected from members who attended events organised by the association, as well as a false account balance.

She then printed the table, placed it on top of an original OCBC account statement, and photocopied the two documents together so that the final document would have the OCBC letterhead and footer with the forged table of transaction details.

Between January 2014 and August 2018, she made 44 forgeries. The total value of the false entries was $158,030.

Chin, who was unrepresented in court, also falsified receipt vouchers to indicate that the association had received the payments. From May 2013 to August 2018, a total of 73 receipt vouchers were falsified and the association lost $287,290.

In sentencing, District Judge Ng Peng Hong took Chin's medical condition into account and noted that she will be able to receive dialysis treatment while serving her jail term.