SLA cheating case: They checked out condo apartments

[Ithunk]

 

One was the senior. The other the junior.

 

But the two men behaved less like superior and subordinate and more like comrades-in-crime.

 

During the period when Koh Seah Wee, 41, and Lim Chai Meng, 38, worked together to defraud their employer, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), they were so close they even went to a property viewing together to decide on whether to invest some of their ill-gotten gains in a condominium apartment each.

 

Koh was then a deputy director and Lim a manager in the statutory board's information technology department.

 

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Yesterday, Koh pleaded guilty to 46 cheating charges and nine money laundering charges involving the SLA and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos).

 

He admitted to another 317 similar charges, which will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

 

Lim pleaded guilty to 40 counts of conspiring to cheat the SLA, one count of cheating a finance company and eight counts of money laundering.

 

He also admitted to another 260 similar charges, which will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

 

They might have been close when defrauding their employer, but yesterday, it was clear in court that the duo were no longer chums.

 

Even though they sat less than a metre apart, they barely glanced at each other.

 

Instead, they left it to their lawyers - Mr Ravinderpal Singh for Koh; Mr Subhas Anandan and Mr Sunil Sudheesan for Lim - to push the blame around.

 

The court heard that Koh and Lim, together with seven other accomplices, bled the SLA of about $12.2 million more than two years.

 

Of that amount, about 15 per cent ($1.87 million) went to Lim while more than 70 per cent or ($8.54 million) went to Koh, said Lim's lawyers, Mr Subhas Anandan and Mr Sunil Sudheesan.

 

The remainder was channelled to the other accomplices in the conspiracy. Two have since been jailed.

 

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNew...030-307747.html

[Ithunk]

continue the story

 

Extravagance

 

Yesterday, the court was told of how Koh and Lim, the central figures in the conspiracy, led lives of extravagance during their cheating spree.

 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Aedit Abdullah said the duo devised a "systematic way of laundering their criminal proceeds" by buying private properties under their own name or jointly with their wives.

 

They also bought expensive watches and luxury goods and frequently traded and upgraded luxury vehicles, among other things.

 

And it was Koh who advised Lim on how he should launder his cut of the takings, said Mr Anandan in his client's mitigation.

 

Some months after Koh joined SLA in March 2007, he found out that Lim had to support his wife - she was retrenched in 2004 - and four young children. He was also struggling to cope with mortgage payments and credit card debt.

 

At this time, Koh sent Lim "an innocuous e-mail" about a money-making scheme he had, said Mr Anandan. He asked Lim if he was interested.

 

He also told Lim the plan was to do "a few big ones" and stop. Out of desperation due to his financial difficulties, Lim agreed, said his lawyer.

 

The court heard that the pair came up with false invoices through various business entities for fake IT maintenance services and goods which were not delivered.

 

The scam was carried out through Lim as the procurement officer was responsible for requisition of services and goods required by his department.

 

As a result, 282 such contracts were awarded to 11 "vendors" whom the conspirators knew would not be able to, and who did not intend to, fulfil. Koh had also cheated Ipos and the Supreme Court during his earlier deployment stints.

 

After settling his debts, Lim had money left over. Mr Anandan said Koh advised him not to deposit too much money in the bank as it could "make things troublesome".

 

And it was because of Koh's advice that Lim made similar purchases to his, said Mr Anandan. Koh was also the one who introduced the contact for the second-hand Ferrari that Lim bought.

 

Last year, Lim began having misgivings about his involvement in the scam and tried persuading Koh to stop. He felt that what had started as "an initial plan to cheat a bit of money spiralled out of control", said Mr Anandan.

 

He told Koh he wanted out and would no longer help him. But when Koh asked him to be responsible for the last batch of transactions in March last year, he agreed as he felt beholden to him.

 

Justice Tay Yong Kwang pointed out that despite his reluctance, Lim still created a total of 57 fictitious contracts worth more than $3 million in that one month.

 

He said it gave him the impression that the men decided to do "one big one", then ride into the sunset.

 

Mr Anandan disagreed. Lim did it as a "last favour" to Koh. And to show that his client wasn't a willing partner, he said, Lim did not take a cent this time.

 

However, Koh's lawyer, Mr Singh said his client claims both men shared the proceeds.

 

Another dispute arose over Lim's claim that Koh had offered him $1.5 million to be the fall guy when investigators from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) came calling.

 

Mr Anandan said this happened when Koh was overseas and the news about the scam broke.

 

Koh had called Lim not knowing that the latter was with CAD officers at their office. He said Lim refused Koh's offer and asked him to return to Singapore.

 

But Mr Singh denied that his client had asked Lim to take the full blame.

 

He said Koh, out of panic, had said in that phone conversation that they could tell the CAD officers that they had some shares in the firms used to launder the money. This would justify the payments they received from the firms.

Edited October 31, 2011 by Ithunk

[Ithunk]

last part

 

Deterrent sentence

 

In submitting on sentencing, DPP Aedit sought a jail term of between 20 and 24 years for Koh and between 16 and 20 years for Lim. He said such heavy deterrent sentences were warranted in view of the unprecedented scale and magnitude of fraud in this case.

 

He said Koh's elaborate and systematic laundering of his criminal proceeds showed him to be a "highly sophisticated criminal".

 

He added that Koh, who was the mastermind of the entire scam, had grown bolder after he got away with concealing his financial interests in vendor companies he recommended while at the Supreme Court and Ipos. He had graduated into "perpetuating an elaborate and outright fraud" during his time at the SLA.

 

As for Lim, DPP Aedit said he "played a key and central role in the operation and was no mere minion or servile follower of Koh".

 

Sentencing has been adjourned to Nov 4.

 

For cheating, the duo can be jailed 10 years and fined on each charge. For money laundering offences, they can be jailed seven years and fined on each charge.

 

The SLA has filed a civil suit against 18 individuals including Koh, Lim and their family members to recover the money.

 

This article was first published in The New Paper.

 

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNew...0-307747/3.html

Edited October 31, 2011 by Ithunk

[Mockngbrd]

cheat so much dun run away obersea....

[Scb11980]

there are obvious robbing from the public

but citizens pretend it does NOT exist

 

what to do