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Secretary who stole from boss: He wants $2.2m back
08 Jun 2011
SOURCE: The Straits Times
The woman who stole from her former boss may have drawn a 59-month jail term but he will not have closure till he gets back the $2.2 million he says he lost.
In August last year, Mr David Wu sued Samantha Chiam, his former personal assistant, in the High Court for the return of $1.3 million and obtained judgment against her.
She had already returned $100,000 after her dishonest acts were found out and surrendered $450,000 worth of luxury goods.
He runs Triple Electronic, a Singapore-based firm which distributes electronic parts and has branches in Taiwan, the United States, Malaysia and China.
Last month, Mr Wu, 38, a Taiwanese who has lived here for 16 years, also obtained a court order to declare Chiam a bankrupt as she could not return the money.
On Monday, Chiam, 30, was jailed for stealing $1.3 million from him between 2006 and 2009.
She had forged his signatures on his personal cheques, the last of which was for a sum of US$500,000 (S$613,800) on Feb 17, 2009.
She used the money to splurge on branded goods.
The mother of three young children was convicted on nine counts of forgery, with 24 similar charges and one charge of converting benefits of criminal conduct taken into consideration.
Speaking yesterday to The Straits Times, Mr Wu said: “I’m not satisfied. In one year, she earns no more than $30,000.
I got back close to $600,000 which she would have to work at least 20 years to earn.
She worked for me less than five years and took so much money.
Who knows where she has kept the rest? When she gets out of jail, she can still enjoy it.”
He added that when he hired her in 2005, she was pregnant. In the four years that followed, she took a lot of annual and medical leave.
“I was understanding and lenient and yet she has shown no remorse or regret,” he said.
He trusted her to take care of his personal matters as he often travelled.
He made it clear the money she stole was from his personal account, not company funds.
“It’s not a money issue. I’m very offended because she is not sorry,” he said. “If she took the money for her family or kids, I can let it go. But it was to buy bags.”
He said the police told him they charged her with stealing $1.3 million, and not $2.2 million, as there was insufficient evidence.
“It’s her attitude – she didn’t even say sorry, and tried to play games with me by making me dig out the information rather than tell me directly,” he said.
“I will pursue this my whole life.”
