A Grave Lesson

Companies are encouraged to have in place, robust procurement processes to prevent instances of dishonest dealings like cheating, within the organization. Individuals found to engage in such criminal activity, including money laundering, will be brought firmly to task.

2. On 28 November 2018, two individuals were charged with the following offences:

a) Cheng Choong Hung (张仲恒), 55-year-old male Singaporean and former Director of NTUitive Pte Ltd

i. 10 counts of abetment by conspiring with one Louise Lai Pei Hsien (“Louise”), to cheat Nanyang Technological University (“NTU”), TechBiz Xccelerator Pte Ltd (“TBX”) and NTUitive Pte Ltd (“NTUitive”), an offence punishable under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. Louise was alleged to have submitted invoices from I-KnowHow Pte Ltd (“IKH”) to NTU, TBX and NTUitive for works not done by IKH, which dishonestly induced the companies to pay IKH a sum amounting to $117,000 from August 2014 to February 2015. NTUitive is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTU while TBX is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTUitive.

ii. 3 counts of abetment by conspiring with Louise, to cheat NTUitive by submitting invoices from IKH to one Lu Jiawen (“Lu”) for developmental works that were supposedly outsourced by Lu to IKH. As a result, NTUitive was dishonestly induced to disburse a total sum of $44,000 to Lu. These acts constituted an offence punishable under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

iii. 6 counts of abetment by conspiring with Lu, to cheat NTU into believing that Lu was employed on a full time basis with TBX when she was not. As a result, NTU was dishonestly induced into paying Lu salaries amounting to $21,000 for the months of July 2015 to December 2015. These acts constituted an offence punishable under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

iv. 3 counts of abetment by conspiring with one Fung Kwok Pan (“Fung”), to cheat NTU and TBX by submitting invoices from Voidworks Pte Ltd (“Voidworks”) to NTU and TBX for works not done by Voidworks. As a result, these companies were dishonestly induced to pay Voidworks a total of $43,000. These acts constituted an offence punishable under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

v. 2 counts of abetment by conspiring with one Amunumulle Jayasinghe Mudiyanselage Udeepa Gayantha Jayasinghe @ Udeepa to knowingly give false quotations from Voidworks to a Financial Controller at NTUitive, with the intent to deceive and mislead NTUitive, an offence under Section 6(c) read with Section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241.

vi. 8 counts of concealing a sum amounting to $192,000 (which in part directly represents Cheng’s benefits from criminal conduct) by falsely informing Louise that the said sum was for consultancy services rendered by one Xu Meng (“Xu”) and then directing Louise to issue IKH cheques for the said sum to Xu. These cheques were then deposited into Xu’s OCBC bank account which Cheng had access to. These constituted an offence under Section 47(1)(a) and punishable under Section 47(6)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, Chapter 65A.

vii. 4 counts of concealing a sum amounting to $35,000 (which in part directly represents Cheng’s benefits from criminal conduct) by falsely claiming from Voidworks, payments for jobs that were purportedly carried out by Xu and causing Fung to issue Voidworks cheques for the said sum to Xu when Cheng knew that the jobs were not carried out by Xu. These cheques were subsequently deposited into Xu’s OCBC bank account which Cheng had access to. These constituted an offence under Section 47(1)(a) and punishable under Section 47(6)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, Chapter 65A.

viii. 7 counts of concealing a sum amounting to $19,500 (which in whole directly represents Cheng’s benefits from criminal conduct) by falsely informing Lu that Xu had done the work that TBX had assigned to Lu and then instructing Lu to transfer the said sum from Lu’s bank account to Xu’s OCBC bank account (which Cheng had access to). These constituted an offence under Section 47(1)(a) and punishable under Section 47(6)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, Chapter 65A.

ix. 77 counts of transferring a sum amounting to $222,300 (which in part directly represents Cheng’s benefits from criminal conduct), from Xu’s OCBC bank account (which Cheng had access to) to his own UOB bank account, an offence under Section 47(1)(b) and punishable under Section 47(6)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, Chapter 65A.

b) Louise Lai Pei Hsien (赖佩仙), 42-year-old female Singaporean and former Director of I-KnowHow Pte Ltd

i. 10 counts of abetment by conspiring with Cheng Choong Hung (“Cheng”), to cheat NTU, TBX and NTUitive Pte Ltd, an offence punishable under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. She was alleged to have submitted invoices from IKH to NTU, TBX and NTUitive for works not done by IKH, which dishonestly induced the companies to pay IKH a total of $117,000.

ii. 3 counts of abetment by conspiring with Cheng, to cheat NTUitive by submitting invoices from IKH to one Lu Jiawen (“Lu”), for developmental works that were supposedly outsourced by Lu to IKH but which were not carried out. As a result, NTUitive was dishonestly induced to disburse a total sum of $44,000 to Lu. These acts constituted an offence punishable under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

iii. 2 counts of abetment by conspiring with one Wong Chee Leong (“Wong”), to cheat NTU by positioning Wong as the service provider in a service agreement between him and NTU to provide ‘consultancy services for content designs and social media marketing services when it was not so. As a result, NTU was dishonestly induced to pay Wong consultancy fees amounting to $30,000, for the period of January 2016 to June 2016. These acts constituted an offence punishable under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

3. After the alleged criminal benefits were received in IKH, Voidworks and Lu’s account, Cheng was found to have caused these funds to be channelled into a bank account held under the name of one Xu Meng, which Cheng had access to. Most of these funds were supposedly transferred into Cheng’s personal bank account. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau has since seized approximately $281,000 from Cheng.

4. The CPIB takes a serious view against corruption and any criminal activities. Members of the public are also reminded that it is an offence to conceal, attempt to conceal or to knowingly assist another person to conceal any ill-gotten proceeds. Any person who is convicted of an offence punishable under Section 47(6)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, Chapter 65A will be liable to a fine not exceeding $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau