Man in conspiracy to cheat Spring Singapore of $85k gets 22 months’ jail

SINGAPORE – A director of a group of IT solution companies worked with others to dupe Spring Singapore into disbursing $85,000 in public funds.

At the time of the offences, Donovan Goh Shen Shu was also a shareholder in the companies – IT Works Solutions, IT Works HR Systems, IT Works Accounting Systems, IT Works ERP Systems and IT Works Inventory Systems.

Goh, 36, who committed the offences in 2015 and has not made restitution, was sentenced to a year and 10 months’ jail on March 12. He had pleaded guilty to five counts each of cheating and falsification of accounts. Twenty other charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing.

The prosecution said Goh committed cheating with Dexter Ng Wing Hong, who was then also a director at the same group of companies, collectively known as ITWG.

Court documents did not state if Ng has been charged in court or if he had been dealt with earlier.

Spring Singapore has since merged with International Enterprise Singapore, forming the current agency known as Enterprise Singapore.

Deputy public prosecutors Yee Jia Rong and Daniel Ong stated in court documents that Goh’s offences involved an initiative called the Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) scheme.

It involved $5,000 vouchers aimed at encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to develop their capabilities in areas such as innovation, productivity and integrated solutions (IS).

To get a grant, an individual had to submit an application through the ICV online system to obtain Spring Singapore’s approval to purchase an IS from a provider like ITWG.

Once approved, the applicant could proceed with the purchase. Upon the delivery of the IS, the applicant would submit a claim for reimbursement via the same system.

The DPPs said that Goh, Ng and a team of salespersons saw the ICV scheme as an opportunity to generate sales and to entice potential customers to purchase solutions from ITWG.

Goh and Ng then instructed three salespersons to recruit applicants to purchase IS from ITWG in return for cashbacks, the court heard.

These applicants submitted ICV claims or authorised ITWG to submit such claims on their behalf.

After the grants were disbursed, the applicants retained a portion of the money as the agreed cashback before paying the remaining amount to either ITWG or the salespersons.

The DPPs said: “The accused and Dexter (Ng) knew that the costs of the IS represented on the ICV claims to (Spring Singapore) were false as they were inflated due to the cashback arrangements.

“They intended to deceive (Spring Singapore) into believing that the applicants had paid at least $5,000 for each of the solutions.”

At times, falsified receipts were used to falsely indicate that the applicants had paid for the solutions before submitting the claims.

The prosecutors said that Goh and Ng had instructed the salespersons to prepare such receipts.

“The accused and Dexter thus abetted the preparation of these receipts wilfully and with intent to defraud (Spring Singapore),” they added.

In December 2016, a Spring Singapore representative alerted the authorities, alleging that companies serving as solution providers had submitted false ICV claims and duped the agency into disbursing grants between January 2015 and December 2016.

Goh was charged in court in 2023.

His bail was set at $30,000 on March 12 and he is expected to begin serving his sentence in April.