Woman steals $642k from boss

[Valkyrie]

Oct 12, 2010
Woman steals $642k from boss

By Khushwant Singh

AS THE executive secretary of a director in one of the 'Big Four' accounting firms here, Siew Siu Yin, 45, was a trusted employee. Reporting to Mr Kikuo Yokota, 65, she managed the administrative matters of one of the units in KPMG, and also attended to some of his personal matters. A year into her job, in July 2003, she began stealing his money by forging his signatures on cheques from his chequebook.

Over the next seven years, she helped herself to $642,000 of his money. She pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 23 out of the 164 charges she had racked up. The remaining charges will be considered when she is sentenced in about two weeks. Siew was able to cover her tracks by forging Mr Yokota's signature on letters she wrote to Singapore Post in which he 'authorised' a diversion of his bank statements to a post office mail box to which only she had access.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.

 

[Jiang Wei]

Forgiven but she stole again


Oct 13, 2010
Forgiven but she stole again

By Khushwant Singh

Siew Siu Yin leaving court yesterday. She admitted to forgery and theft of her boss' money. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

AS THE executive secretary for a director of one of the 'Big Four' accounting firms here, Siew Siu Yin, 45, was a trusted employee. Reporting to Mr Kikuo Yokota, 65, she managed the administrative matters of one of the units in KPMG, and also attended to some of his personal matters. A year into her job, in July 2003, she began stealing his money by forging his signatures on cheques from his chequebook. Over the next seven years, she helped herself to $642,000 of his money. Yesterday, she pleaded guilty to 23 out of the 164 charges she had racked up. The remaining charges will be considered when she is sentenced in about two weeks.

Siew was able to cover her tracks by forging Mr Yokota's signature on letters she wrote to Singapore Post in which he 'authorised' a diversion of his bank statements to a post office mailbox to which only she had access. He stopped receiving his bank statements. When he asked her in April 2007 to inquire at the bank about this, she promptly forged 20 OCBC bank statements for his inspection. Covering the period April 2003 to January 2007, they did not show the fraudulent withdrawals. He found out what she was doing in July 2007 when he called the bank himself, but gave her a second chance.

 

[Da Qiao]

5 years jail for theft, forgery


Oct 25, 2010
5 years jail for theft, forgery

A WOMAN who made off with her boss's $642,000 after stealing his chequebooks and forging his signatures was jailed for 60 months on Monday. Former executive secretary Siew Siu Yin, 45, admitted to 23 of 164 counts of stealing and forging the signature of Mr Kikuo Yokota, 65, who was one of the directors of KPMG, Japanese practice, at Raffles Quay, between 2003 and March last year.

The court heard that she was able to cover her tracks by forging Mr Yokota's signature on letters she wrote to Singapore Post in which he 'authorised' a diversion of his bank statements to a post office mailbox to which only she had access. He stopped receiving his bank statements. When he asked her in April 2007 to check with the bank, she promptly forged 20 OCBC bank statements from 2003 to 2007.

He found out about the forgeries in July 2007 when he called the bank himself, but gave her a second chance. By then she had forged 100 cheques and siphoned off $569,370 from the victim and promised to pay back by monthly instalments. The victim trusted her and did not report her to the police. She made restitution of only $3,000 and subsequently, went back to her old ways. District Judge Thian Yee Sze said the amount she had misappropriated was very substantial. It was very clear, she added, that Siew abused the clemency given to her.

 

[chobolan]

Siew got caught in 2007 and was forgiven, but went back to her old ways.



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