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One of the biggest fraud cases in recent years.....plus the men and their expensive assets!
Business Times - 29 Sep 2010
$12m fraud at govt stat board
SLA recovers Ferrari and Lamborghini from two former IT officers who allegedly raised fake invoices for fictitious maintenance services
By MICHELLE QUAH
(SINGAPORE) In what is perhaps the biggest case of government-sector fraud in recent history here, police have caught and charged a former Singapore Land Authority (SLA) senior employee on 249 counts of cheating the authority of some $12 million, over the course of two years.
If convicted, he faces a possible jail term of up to 10 years on each charge.
But that isn't all; the probe on the man is still ongoing, and BT understands charges could also be brought against a colleague he is believed to have conspired with and the external parties they both dealt with.
SLA has managed to recover some $10 million in cash and assets from its two former employees, with the help of the police. BT understands that among the assets recovered were flashy cars driven by the two men - a Lamborghini and a Ferrari - five properties, watches, jewellery and designer handbags.
SLA, which is a statutory board that manages state land and is also the national land registration authority, said (in a joint press statement with the Law Ministry yesterday) that it believes its two former officers, Koh Seah Wee, 39, who was deputy director of its technology & infrastructure department, and Christopher Lim Chai Meng, 37, a manager in that department, conspired to cheat SLA of $11.8 million.
Under an old SLA organisation chart obtained by BT, Koh, who has been charged, reported directly to the director of the information technology division, who in turn reported to the deputy CEO of SLA. Lim is understood to have reported to Koh.
SLA said, in its press statement, that the two men are believed to have rendered false invoices through various business entities, for fictitious IT maintenance services and goods which were not delivered. The business entities were set up by their friends, with seven of the entities owned by businessman Ho Yen Teck. BT understands the transactions took place between January 2008 - less than a year after the two men were seconded to SLA from the Infocomm Development Authority - and March 2010.
Explaining how the crime could have escaped detection for more than two years, SLA said 'the two officers are suspected of conspiring with each other and with the said business entities, thus enabling them to circumvent the checks and balances in the processes'. SLA said it also had in place finance and procurement processes which were in accordance with government guidelines.
BT understands this to refer to the government practice where departments can request parties to submit a quote for contracts worth less than $70,000 - a limit beyond which government offices have to call for a tender. The government and the SLA also have an $80,000 limit - the maximum amount for a contract which a deputy director, like Koh, could have approved on his own. Any amount beyond that has to be approved by the director of the division.
BT understands that the two men escaped detection by ensuring that each of the contracts they secured - from the fictitious IT companies set up by their friends - were below these limits. The amounts ranged from $2,600 to $60,000.
Lim would submit the requests to Koh, who would then approve them under his authority. The quotes by the fictitious IT firms were then submitted through the government's e-procurement portal, GeBiz, so that everything appeared proper on the surface. The contracts were also for IT services - intangible products that could not be verified by sight after they were provided.
Drew & Napier director Wendell Wong, an experienced litigator who also prosecuted commercial crime cases during his stint as a public prosecutor, commented: 'Where there is a conspiracy between two or more parties, it does make detection of the crime that much tougher.'
The crime was uncovered in June this year when Koh was rotated out of the department, as part of SLA's routine rotation programme.
The new department head, while reviewing past expenditure, felt something was amiss. SLA then reported the matter to the police.
The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), Singapore's white-collar-crime police, has since recovered much of what SLA lost. BT understands that the discrepancy between what CAD has recovered and what was taken by the two men is due to changes in the values of the assets - such as in the case of Lim's Ferrari, which lost some value after it crashed along Nicoll Highway last year.
Asked why it revealed the matter only now - three months after it was first reported to the police - SLA said: 'We did not go public any earlier as police investigations including the tracing of assets were ongoing. Investigations against Koh are now largely completed . . . and this is the first appropriate opportunity for us to inform the public of the case.'
SLA said it has since beefed up its internal processes to help prevent a recurrence of such an incident, such as requiring an officer from a different department to verify the request to call a quotation, and reducing the financial limit for approval of financial transactions by certain levels of officers.
Disciplinary investigations will also begin in respect of two SLA officers whose oversight might have allowed the fraud to take place undetected. Disciplinary action will be taken, if appropriate, SLA said.
Koh is currently in remand - and has been since June - as he is unable to raise the $1.5 million bail offered to him. He is represented by Ravinderpal Singh and his case will be mentioned again on Oct 19.
If convicted of cheating, under the Penal Code, he could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to 10 years on each count. For concealing criminal proceeds, he could be fined up to $500,000 and/or jailed up to seven years.
----------------------------------------------------
Business Times - 29 Sep 2010
The SLA men and their expensive tastes
A Lamborghini and a Ferrari highlighted their taste for life in the fast, flashy lane
By MICHELLE QUAH AND UMA SHANKARI
(SINGAPORE) Little is known about the two Singapore Land Authority (SLA) officers who allegedly made off with $12 million of the statutory board's money.
But Koh Seah Wee and Christopher Lim Chai Meng's supposed actions have now made them notorious.
Both men were named by the SLA yesterday as being suspected of having conspired to cheat SLA of $11.8 million, by awarding fictitious IT maintenance service contracts to 10 companies set up by their friends.
Koh has been charged with 249 counts of cheating and faces jail time and fines, if he is convicted. Lim is assisting the police with their investigations.
Their colleagues at the SLA, who spoke to BT, said the two men were 'meek' and 'docile', and did not share their private lives in the office. They were said to have been really close to each other, spending a lot of time together.
Both were polytechnic graduates made good. They had been seconded to SLA from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in early 2008 - and allegedly got to work channelling a substantial chunk of SLA's money to themselves very soon after.
Of the $11.8 million they supposedly siphoned off, much was spent on flashy cars and properties.
Koh bought a $1.6 million Lamborghini, which he registered under the name of his wife, Yeing Nyok Sea, 38. He also bought his mother-in-law, Kok A Mui, a $300,000 Mercedes-Benz coupe.
Lim bought a Ferrari, which he crashed along Nicoll Highway in December 2009 - an accident reported then by The Straits Times. In that report, the Ferrari was described as a 'mangled mess' after it hit a guardrail, then a tree.
An ambulance arrived at the scene at 7.18am, but the driver - named as Lim Chai Meng - was not seriously hurt, other than for some scratches on his arms and forehead.
BT understands that no one in SLA had realised the Ferrari driver was their colleague, as they knew him in the office as Chris Lim.
Both men also took pains to not wear the expensive watches they had bought with their ill-gotten gains to the office.
'They were very subdued, very humble people. There was no indication that they were doing well, materially. They didn't wear branded goods or luxury watches,' an ex-colleague told BT.
The men also spent money on properties - all of which have been seized by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). Koh is understood to have bought three properties, one of which was Axis@Siglap along East Coast Terrace. Lim bought two properties.
Koh is also understood to have bought jewellery and handbags for his wife, and put some of the money into unit trusts and bank accounts.
Koh is an ultra-marathoner who took part in the 2008 Sundown Marathon, Singapore's inaugural 84km night marathon, and in the Osim Singapore International Triathlon 2009.
SLA, working together with the CAD, has managed to recover some $10 million in cash and assets from its two former employees.
Just about all of the assets bought with the stolen money has been recovered - with the discrepancy in the value being the result of changes to the values of the assets, such as in the case of Lim's Ferrari, which lost value after its crash.
Business Times - 29 Sep 2010
$12m fraud at govt stat board
SLA recovers Ferrari and Lamborghini from two former IT officers who allegedly raised fake invoices for fictitious maintenance services
By MICHELLE QUAH
(SINGAPORE) In what is perhaps the biggest case of government-sector fraud in recent history here, police have caught and charged a former Singapore Land Authority (SLA) senior employee on 249 counts of cheating the authority of some $12 million, over the course of two years.
If convicted, he faces a possible jail term of up to 10 years on each charge.
But that isn't all; the probe on the man is still ongoing, and BT understands charges could also be brought against a colleague he is believed to have conspired with and the external parties they both dealt with.
SLA has managed to recover some $10 million in cash and assets from its two former employees, with the help of the police. BT understands that among the assets recovered were flashy cars driven by the two men - a Lamborghini and a Ferrari - five properties, watches, jewellery and designer handbags.
SLA, which is a statutory board that manages state land and is also the national land registration authority, said (in a joint press statement with the Law Ministry yesterday) that it believes its two former officers, Koh Seah Wee, 39, who was deputy director of its technology & infrastructure department, and Christopher Lim Chai Meng, 37, a manager in that department, conspired to cheat SLA of $11.8 million.
Under an old SLA organisation chart obtained by BT, Koh, who has been charged, reported directly to the director of the information technology division, who in turn reported to the deputy CEO of SLA. Lim is understood to have reported to Koh.
SLA said, in its press statement, that the two men are believed to have rendered false invoices through various business entities, for fictitious IT maintenance services and goods which were not delivered. The business entities were set up by their friends, with seven of the entities owned by businessman Ho Yen Teck. BT understands the transactions took place between January 2008 - less than a year after the two men were seconded to SLA from the Infocomm Development Authority - and March 2010.
Explaining how the crime could have escaped detection for more than two years, SLA said 'the two officers are suspected of conspiring with each other and with the said business entities, thus enabling them to circumvent the checks and balances in the processes'. SLA said it also had in place finance and procurement processes which were in accordance with government guidelines.
BT understands this to refer to the government practice where departments can request parties to submit a quote for contracts worth less than $70,000 - a limit beyond which government offices have to call for a tender. The government and the SLA also have an $80,000 limit - the maximum amount for a contract which a deputy director, like Koh, could have approved on his own. Any amount beyond that has to be approved by the director of the division.
BT understands that the two men escaped detection by ensuring that each of the contracts they secured - from the fictitious IT companies set up by their friends - were below these limits. The amounts ranged from $2,600 to $60,000.
Lim would submit the requests to Koh, who would then approve them under his authority. The quotes by the fictitious IT firms were then submitted through the government's e-procurement portal, GeBiz, so that everything appeared proper on the surface. The contracts were also for IT services - intangible products that could not be verified by sight after they were provided.
Drew & Napier director Wendell Wong, an experienced litigator who also prosecuted commercial crime cases during his stint as a public prosecutor, commented: 'Where there is a conspiracy between two or more parties, it does make detection of the crime that much tougher.'
The crime was uncovered in June this year when Koh was rotated out of the department, as part of SLA's routine rotation programme.
The new department head, while reviewing past expenditure, felt something was amiss. SLA then reported the matter to the police.
The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), Singapore's white-collar-crime police, has since recovered much of what SLA lost. BT understands that the discrepancy between what CAD has recovered and what was taken by the two men is due to changes in the values of the assets - such as in the case of Lim's Ferrari, which lost some value after it crashed along Nicoll Highway last year.
Asked why it revealed the matter only now - three months after it was first reported to the police - SLA said: 'We did not go public any earlier as police investigations including the tracing of assets were ongoing. Investigations against Koh are now largely completed . . . and this is the first appropriate opportunity for us to inform the public of the case.'
SLA said it has since beefed up its internal processes to help prevent a recurrence of such an incident, such as requiring an officer from a different department to verify the request to call a quotation, and reducing the financial limit for approval of financial transactions by certain levels of officers.
Disciplinary investigations will also begin in respect of two SLA officers whose oversight might have allowed the fraud to take place undetected. Disciplinary action will be taken, if appropriate, SLA said.
Koh is currently in remand - and has been since June - as he is unable to raise the $1.5 million bail offered to him. He is represented by Ravinderpal Singh and his case will be mentioned again on Oct 19.
If convicted of cheating, under the Penal Code, he could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to 10 years on each count. For concealing criminal proceeds, he could be fined up to $500,000 and/or jailed up to seven years.
----------------------------------------------------
Business Times - 29 Sep 2010
The SLA men and their expensive tastes
A Lamborghini and a Ferrari highlighted their taste for life in the fast, flashy lane
By MICHELLE QUAH AND UMA SHANKARI
(SINGAPORE) Little is known about the two Singapore Land Authority (SLA) officers who allegedly made off with $12 million of the statutory board's money.
But Koh Seah Wee and Christopher Lim Chai Meng's supposed actions have now made them notorious.
Both men were named by the SLA yesterday as being suspected of having conspired to cheat SLA of $11.8 million, by awarding fictitious IT maintenance service contracts to 10 companies set up by their friends.
Koh has been charged with 249 counts of cheating and faces jail time and fines, if he is convicted. Lim is assisting the police with their investigations.
Their colleagues at the SLA, who spoke to BT, said the two men were 'meek' and 'docile', and did not share their private lives in the office. They were said to have been really close to each other, spending a lot of time together.
Both were polytechnic graduates made good. They had been seconded to SLA from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in early 2008 - and allegedly got to work channelling a substantial chunk of SLA's money to themselves very soon after.
Of the $11.8 million they supposedly siphoned off, much was spent on flashy cars and properties.
Koh bought a $1.6 million Lamborghini, which he registered under the name of his wife, Yeing Nyok Sea, 38. He also bought his mother-in-law, Kok A Mui, a $300,000 Mercedes-Benz coupe.
Lim bought a Ferrari, which he crashed along Nicoll Highway in December 2009 - an accident reported then by The Straits Times. In that report, the Ferrari was described as a 'mangled mess' after it hit a guardrail, then a tree.
An ambulance arrived at the scene at 7.18am, but the driver - named as Lim Chai Meng - was not seriously hurt, other than for some scratches on his arms and forehead.
BT understands that no one in SLA had realised the Ferrari driver was their colleague, as they knew him in the office as Chris Lim.
Both men also took pains to not wear the expensive watches they had bought with their ill-gotten gains to the office.
'They were very subdued, very humble people. There was no indication that they were doing well, materially. They didn't wear branded goods or luxury watches,' an ex-colleague told BT.
The men also spent money on properties - all of which have been seized by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). Koh is understood to have bought three properties, one of which was Axis@Siglap along East Coast Terrace. Lim bought two properties.
Koh is also understood to have bought jewellery and handbags for his wife, and put some of the money into unit trusts and bank accounts.
Koh is an ultra-marathoner who took part in the 2008 Sundown Marathon, Singapore's inaugural 84km night marathon, and in the Osim Singapore International Triathlon 2009.
SLA, working together with the CAD, has managed to recover some $10 million in cash and assets from its two former employees.
Just about all of the assets bought with the stolen money has been recovered - with the discrepancy in the value being the result of changes to the values of the assets, such as in the case of Lim's Ferrari, which lost value after its crash.
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