Single mum 13th person jailed over cheating case involving Citibank loans

A single mother has become the 13th person to be handed a jail sentence for her role in a ruse that saw forged documents submitted to Citibank to secure loans.

Kiran Kaur, 29, was yesterday sentenced to six months' jail for cheating.

The court heard that between September and October 2018, the consumer division of Citigroup received and approved about 20 loan applications that were later found to include forged income documents. Each loan was between $12,000 and $24,000.

Kaur was jobless and facing financial difficulties when she responded to an advertisement in September 2018 on online marketplace Carousell for a "fast cash" job, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Dhiraj G. Chainani.

Through the ad, she contacted a man known only as Charles, via messaging platform WhatsApp. Charles, whose identity was not mentioned in court papers, told her he could help her obtain a loan from Citibank.

The DPP said: "The accused told Charles that she was not working at that time and did not have any Central Provident Fund contributions in order to apply for a bank loan. Charles told the accused not to worry and that the accused did not need to satisfy the requisite income level to qualify for a bank loan."

He got Kaur to divulge her Singpass login details and told her to meet an unidentified man outside a Citibank branch at MacDonald House in Orchard Road to collect a set of documents for the loan application.

She did as she was told and received documents that falsely stated she was working for another bank and earning $6,700 a month for July and August that year.

The court heard that Charles then told her to look for Citibank contract staff member Kirk Chua Min Xuan, 29, at the branch. Her loan application was submitted on Sept 10, 2018, and later approved.

In total, Kaur received $13,490 in cash, but she claimed that she kept $4,000 and gave the rest to the man who gave her the forged documents. Charles had instructed her to do this, she said.

On Oct 2 that year, a Citibank representative made a police report that the bank had approved loans based on falsified income documents.

Kaur was identified as one of the applicants.

Twelve other offenders linked to the ruse were dealt with in court earlier.

Chua's case is still pending. In an earlier statement, the bank said that he has not been working on Citibank-related matters since 2019.

The court heard that Kaur has made restitution of $4,000. Her bail was set at $10,000 yesterday and she was ordered to surrender herself at the State Courts on Sept 26 to begin serving her sentence. For cheating, she could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.