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01-09-2011, 06:17 AM
Another case of gambling landing a man in deep trouble, and deep debts!
The Straits Times
Sep 1, 2011
Gambling debts land sales assistant in jail
Sacked after stealing from employer, he worked for loan sharks
HE LOST his job and his flat, and now he has lost his freedom - all to online football betting.
Lee Kim Boon, a 41-year-old father of three, was jailed for three years and ordered to be given 15 strokes of the cane for offences that he had committed in his effort to pay back loans he took to cover his gambling debts: He misappropriated over $55,000 worth of goods and racked up 10 counts of harassing debtors on the orders of loan sharks.
A district court heard that the sales assistant with Super Coffee Corporation got into gambling because he felt humiliated that his $2,000 monthly salary was only half that of his wife's, a logistics executive.
He sought to fatten his bank account through gambling, but instead sank into debt.
In late 2009, he misappropriated $26,918 worth of coffee powder, cereals and non-dairy creamer from his employer, sold them off and used the money to make good on his debts to unlicensed moneylenders. Emboldened by his success, he sold another $28,596 worth of such goods and pocketed the money early last year.
His offences were uncovered during an audit last October. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau was called in, and he was fired.
Unemployed, he then sold his family home to get his hands on some money. But the plan backfired - there was nothing left after paying back the property loans.
He moved his family into a smaller flat, and was left with only one way of reducing his debt - work for the loan sharks.
Between last December and January, he scribbled graffiti and splashed paint on flats belonging to debtors in Bedok, Tampines, Pasir Ris, Serangoon Road, Hougang and Jurong West. He did this mostly alone, but on four occasions he had an accomplice, known only as Xiao Dong, who is still at large.
Asking the court for leniency, his defence counsel Steven Lam Kuet Keng said a long jail term could break up Lee's family.
In a letter to District Judge Jasvender Kaur, his wife wrote that Lee was close to their children, now aged seven, 10 and 12.
The family, who were in court, cried at the sight of him being handcuffed and led away to begin his jail term.
For misappropriation, he could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined. On each of the five harassment charges to which he had pleaded guilty, he could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to $50,000. He could have also been caned up to six times on each count.
KHUSHWANT SINGH
The Straits Times
Sep 1, 2011
Gambling debts land sales assistant in jail
Sacked after stealing from employer, he worked for loan sharks
HE LOST his job and his flat, and now he has lost his freedom - all to online football betting.
Lee Kim Boon, a 41-year-old father of three, was jailed for three years and ordered to be given 15 strokes of the cane for offences that he had committed in his effort to pay back loans he took to cover his gambling debts: He misappropriated over $55,000 worth of goods and racked up 10 counts of harassing debtors on the orders of loan sharks.
A district court heard that the sales assistant with Super Coffee Corporation got into gambling because he felt humiliated that his $2,000 monthly salary was only half that of his wife's, a logistics executive.
He sought to fatten his bank account through gambling, but instead sank into debt.
In late 2009, he misappropriated $26,918 worth of coffee powder, cereals and non-dairy creamer from his employer, sold them off and used the money to make good on his debts to unlicensed moneylenders. Emboldened by his success, he sold another $28,596 worth of such goods and pocketed the money early last year.
His offences were uncovered during an audit last October. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau was called in, and he was fired.
Unemployed, he then sold his family home to get his hands on some money. But the plan backfired - there was nothing left after paying back the property loans.
He moved his family into a smaller flat, and was left with only one way of reducing his debt - work for the loan sharks.
Between last December and January, he scribbled graffiti and splashed paint on flats belonging to debtors in Bedok, Tampines, Pasir Ris, Serangoon Road, Hougang and Jurong West. He did this mostly alone, but on four occasions he had an accomplice, known only as Xiao Dong, who is still at large.
Asking the court for leniency, his defence counsel Steven Lam Kuet Keng said a long jail term could break up Lee's family.
In a letter to District Judge Jasvender Kaur, his wife wrote that Lee was close to their children, now aged seven, 10 and 12.
The family, who were in court, cried at the sight of him being handcuffed and led away to begin his jail term.
For misappropriation, he could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined. On each of the five harassment charges to which he had pleaded guilty, he could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to $50,000. He could have also been caned up to six times on each count.
KHUSHWANT SINGH
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