Over 3 years’ jail for ex-senior manager who cheated firm of more than $940k

SINGAPORE - In need of money to fund his personal expenses, a senior manager at a semiconductor trading company cheated it of more than $940,000 in total after he issued fake documents.

Albert Kee Boon Ping, 52, who was working for Hakuto Singapore at the time of the offences and has not made any restitution, was sentenced to 3½ years’ jail on Feb 27.

Kee pleaded guilty to two cheating charges linked to a criminal profit of over $500,000.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of dealing with the benefits of his criminal conduct.

Eight other charges, including two counts of cheating relating to the remaining amount, were taken into consideration during his sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Wong Shiau Yin told the court that Kee had committed cheating, allegedly with one Koh Kok Liang.

Koh, 58, was then the sole proprietor of a firm called Advantronics Datanet Solution Trading (ADST), which was in the business of repairing and servicing paging services at the time.

Koh’s case is still pending.

Court documents stated that some time before January 2015, the two Singaporean men conspired to cheat Hakuto.

Under the arrangement, Kee would issue to ADST fictitious purchase orders (POs) for programming services on Hakuto’s letterhead, though both men knew no such services were required, the court heard.

DPP Wong said: “In fact, the accused and Koh knew that ADST did not have the requisite capabilities to provide the services requested in the POs.

“Upon receipt of the POs, Koh would issue corresponding invoices on ADST’s letterheads for each PO that the accused provided, even though Koh knew that ADST did not perform any of the services stated in the invoices.”

According to court documents, Koh handed the invoices to Kee, who would sign and stamp them to acknowledge that ADST had purportedly provided such services.

DPP Wong added that Hakuto’s accounts team processed the invoices to pay more than US$171,000 (S$248,000 according to court documents) via cheques issued to ADST between January and December 2016.

She said: “Upon receipt of the cheques from Hakuto, Koh would deposit the cheques into ADST’s bank accounts.

“Once the (cheques were) cleared, Koh would withdraw the funds and hand them over to the accused in a 75 per cent and 25 per cent split in favour of the accused.”

Between March and November 2016, Kee received ill-gotten gains totalling more than $105,000 in his bank accounts.

Court documents stated that between January and December 2017, the men also worked together to cheat Hakuto of more than US$190,000.

Kee later received over $124,000 in his bank accounts.

In March 2019, Hakuto’s managing director alerted the police, alleging that Kee had created fictitious POs to procure services from ADST.

Kee was charged in court in 2024.

Those convicted of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.