Ex-research fellow admits submitting fake expense claims to cheat NUS of S$39,000
SINGAPORE — A 42-year-old former research fellow from the National University of Singapore (NUS) pleaded guilty on Tuesday (June 14) to submitting fake or inflated claims to the school amounting to about S$39,500.Thomas Teh Kok Hiong, who worked at the university’s department of biomedical engineering, also submitted claims for expenses incurred by his family members. He altered receipts and invoices to make his expense reports seem more legitimate.
The Singaporean admitted to seven charges of cheating and forgery. District Judge Christopher Goh will take into consideration several other similar charges when sentencing him on July 25.
The court heard on Tuesday that Teh took advantage of an electronic system that staff used to submit their claims.
He cheated S$39,452 from the university by submitting 22 fake expense reports between October 2010 and September 2018.
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When expense reports were submitted, a claims verifier would go through them to ensure they complied with NUS’ regulations, that proper supporting documentation was attached and there were enough funds to reimburse the claimant.A claim approver would then perform a second round of checking before the claim was handed over to the finance office for reimbursement.
These verifiers and approvers did not conduct physical checks to verify if goods had been delivered. They trusted that the claims and supporting documents were genuine, and relied on them to process the claim, Deputy Public Prosecutor V Jesudevan told the court.
Investigations revealed that Teh submitted expense reports with false or inflated claims to NUS, as well as claims for expenses he did not incur.
He lied that he was buying items for projects when they were for his personal use or fictitious in nature.
These items included a S$203 screw set, S$337 drill bit set, and S$1,668 medical forceps and drill bit set. He also made claims for diamond saw blades worth S$480, absorbent pads and disinfectants worth S$304, and a rotary manual polisher worth S$545.
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In October 2017, he paid S$300 to install solar film on his Toyota Estima car. He then edited a blank invoice from the shop that installed it, entering the description “UV protective film” and changing the price to S$4,815 to support his false claim to NUS.A few months later, he made a claim of S$2,820 purportedly for the purchase of a linear stage, stepper motor, and actuator, even though he did not buy such items.
He had actually spent S$1,000 on a labeller and radio for his personal use. He then forged a cash sale document and submitted the claim to NUS.
Court documents did not reveal how his offences were discovered.
For each cheating or forgery offence, Teh could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
In a similar case, a former NUS professor, Tan Kok Kiong, was charged alongside Teh with submitting fraudulent claims amounting to about S$100,000 from 2012 to 2019. His case is pending before the courts.
