A former pre-school and childcare principal who used about $46,680 of money meant for school fees for her own personal expenses was sentenced to a year's jail yesterday.
Cheryl Zaneta Kaur Nespal, 30, who was the principal of Acekidz@SG in Jurong from July 2016 to August 2017, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust by a servant.
The centre is one of seven such centres owned and operated by Acekidz@SG.
As part of her job, Kaur was in charge of the overall operations of the centre, including the management of the centre's finances and the collection of school fees, the court heard.
But from October 2016 to July 2017, she collected about $46,680 in cash from the parents of 29 students and used it for herself instead of depositing it into the business' bank accounts.
The students included existing and prospective students.
Kaur's offence only came to light when the chief executive officer and director of Acekidz@SG chanced upon a payment receipt that was issued to one of the parents by Kaur.
Although it had the company's stamp, the receipt itself was not the kind issued by the company.
The director conducted further checks and found that the child of the parent who was issued the receipt was not enrolled in the company's system.
The director then confronted Kaur, who admitted to misappropriating cash collected from the parents of existing and prospective students of the centre.
CONFESSION LETTER
Kaur sent a confession letter to the director via e-mail, and she was terminated in August 2017.
The director made a police report on Sept 25, 2017, and the full extent of Kaur's misappropriation came to light after police investigations had commenced.
Kaur has since made restitution of $2,000 to the company.
For criminal breach of trust by a servant, she could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
