Former SLA employees jailed for cheating, money laundering
By Sara Grosse | Posted: 04 November 2011 1529 hrs
SINGAPORE: Two former Singapore Land Authority (SLA) employees were sentenced to imprisonment on Friday.
41-year-old James Koh Seah Wee was sentenced to a total of 22 years jail for both cheating and money laundering.
His accomplice, 38-year-old Christopher Lim Chai Meng, was sentenced to 15 years jail, also for cheating and money laundering.
The former SLA employees had pleaded guilty to pilfering S$12.5 million from government coffers.
Koh and Lim rendered bogus invoices through various IT firms for fake maintenance services and goods that were never needed or delivered.
The fraud was uncovered in June when investigations showed a number of irregular payments worth some S$12 million within SLA's Technology and Infrastructure Department. The payments took place place between January 2008 and March 2010.
Justice Tay Yong Kwang told the court that offences involving public funds committed against public institutions have to be dealt with sternly as they undermine good administration.
He said financial crimes like these often have repercussions beyond the immediate facts of the case. He added that new and more stringent checks may also have to be introduced to try to prevent a repeat of such cheating. This, he said, would result in unnecessary increased costs in time, manpower and even infrastructure.
Justice Tay said a clear distinction had to be drawn between those who break the law for the first time, and those who had been flouting it for years and were charged for the first time. He added Koh and Lim were not novices in crime and were skilled at avoiding detection.
While the judge singled out Koh as naturally bearing more blame, being the more senior officer and having cheated three public bodies while working within them, he did not diminish Lim's role, who cheated only one public body, saying the duo relied on each other for the deception.
Lawyer Subhas Anandan, who represented Lim Chai Meng, said: "I think the sentence is fair and our client has told us he is not appealing, I think he's accepted the sentence."
Justice Tay said he did not agree with the prosecution's description of Koh and Lim as "highly sophisticated criminals", saying they did not try to camouflage their huge cash reserves.
He called both Koh and Lim's purchase of super fast cars, like the Lamborghini and Ferrari, "egoistic acts". He said they were carelessly inviting questions about their new-found wealth and were hardly "sophisticated money launderers".
Both Lim and Koh assisted in police investigations, and some S$9 million in money and assets have been recovered so far.
- CNA/cc/ac
