[h=1]PROBLEM GAMBLER JAILED FOR MISAPPROPRIATING $360,000 TO PAY OFF GAMBLING DEBTS[/h]
Post date:
28 Jan 2015 - 10:09pm
Jasmine Teo Rui Ling, 38, was sentenced to 3 years in jail for pocketing $360,000 from her employer in order to pay off her gambling debts.
Teo worked as an accounts manager at the Legend Palace KTV Lounge on Sophia Road and committed the offence over three months between December 2012 and March 2013.
Teo had offered to help the cashier bank in the daily earnings of the KTV lounge. When the cashier agreed, Teo then took some of the money each day and covered it up by using the cash proceeds from subsequent days to make up for the shortfall.
She was discovered when one of her colleagues discovered that the money actually deposited into the company’s bank account fell short of the sales reports.
The company then confronted Teo and she admitted to taking the money and was given a change to return it.
However, a year later, she had only managed to pay back $160,000 and the company filed a police report about the incident.
The court heard that Teo had a gambling problem and had been previously jailed in 2004 and 2009 for criminal breach of trust for similar offences where she stole money to feed her gambling addiction.
However, her defence lawyer pointed out that she should get a lighter sentence as Teo had since sought treatment for her addiction and has stopped gambling but took the money this time to pay off old debts that she still had left over from her previous habit.
Teo will start her sentence on Feb 24 as the judge granted her request to be allowed to spend Chinese New Year with her children.
While there is no excuse for criminal activity, it is also necessary to question whether this case, and many others similar to it, would have occurred if Singapore didn’t have any casinos to tempt gamblers.
Without casinos in Singapore, problem gamblers would have to travel further, for example to Genting, in order to play at a casino and due to the distance and difficulty, they would likely go less often.
Is having 2 casinos in Singapore creating problems such as a higher rate of this type of financial crime?
Post date:
28 Jan 2015 - 10:09pm
Jasmine Teo Rui Ling, 38, was sentenced to 3 years in jail for pocketing $360,000 from her employer in order to pay off her gambling debts.
Teo worked as an accounts manager at the Legend Palace KTV Lounge on Sophia Road and committed the offence over three months between December 2012 and March 2013.
Teo had offered to help the cashier bank in the daily earnings of the KTV lounge. When the cashier agreed, Teo then took some of the money each day and covered it up by using the cash proceeds from subsequent days to make up for the shortfall.
She was discovered when one of her colleagues discovered that the money actually deposited into the company’s bank account fell short of the sales reports.
The company then confronted Teo and she admitted to taking the money and was given a change to return it.
However, a year later, she had only managed to pay back $160,000 and the company filed a police report about the incident.
The court heard that Teo had a gambling problem and had been previously jailed in 2004 and 2009 for criminal breach of trust for similar offences where she stole money to feed her gambling addiction.
However, her defence lawyer pointed out that she should get a lighter sentence as Teo had since sought treatment for her addiction and has stopped gambling but took the money this time to pay off old debts that she still had left over from her previous habit.
Teo will start her sentence on Feb 24 as the judge granted her request to be allowed to spend Chinese New Year with her children.
While there is no excuse for criminal activity, it is also necessary to question whether this case, and many others similar to it, would have occurred if Singapore didn’t have any casinos to tempt gamblers.
Without casinos in Singapore, problem gamblers would have to travel further, for example to Genting, in order to play at a casino and due to the distance and difficulty, they would likely go less often.
Is having 2 casinos in Singapore creating problems such as a higher rate of this type of financial crime?