An Overview of Fraud and Private Corruption in Singapore Mr Aedit Abdullah Chief Prosecutor Criminal Justice Division
Police Statistics 2010 on 2009 13 % increase in commercial crimes (broader definition that offences affecting businesses) Largely cheating by impersonation, rental scams Kroll Report Decrease in physical theft, increase in procurement, corruption and internal financial fraud KMPG Report About 1 in 5 companies suffer from this in Singapore Stable proportion, but incidents rising
The Economic Crimes & Governance Division One of three criminal divisions in the Attorney-General s Chambers Specialists Established on 1 Jan 2011 About 38 prosecutors currently Current Chief Prosecutor, Ms Mavis Chionh
The Criminal Divisions of the Attorney-General s Chambers SPD CJD EGD High Court Non-Capital High Court Capital Corruption Crimes against Persons Drugs & Specialist Crimes Financial & Securities Property Crime & Public Order Appeals General Commercial Crime Appeals Cluster Directorates Governance & Appeals
The Commercial Affairs Department The Singapore Police Force, Land Divisions The Economic Crimes & Governance Division The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau
Prominent Cases
PP v Eric Tan Boon Yong PP v Wee Teck Han PP v Alex Ng Soon Heng The JEL case Inflated accounts Charged with falsification of accounts, as well as charges under the Securities & Futures Act and the Companies Act Eric Tan and Wee were fined to 12 months imprisonment and fined; Ng was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment
The Sunshine Empire case PP v James Phang Wah & Ors Multi-level marketing scheme selling lifestyle packages Participation in an online mall, given callback credits, MLM benefits Main benefit: high returns over several months Prosecution: A fraudulent business money churning On appeal
The Singapore Land Authority case PP v Koh Seah Wee PP v Lim Chai Meng Government employees conspired to exploit the procurement process Fictitious transactions set up and paid for Wide ranging covering the SLA, the Supreme Court and the Intellectual Property Office Two main offenders to plead guilty this Friday Some others involved have been sentenced
The runaway lawyer case PP v Tan Cheng Yew x Lawyer who had misappropriated / cheated to the tune of almost $5 million Fled Singapore, was on the run for almost 6 years. Sentenced to 108 months imprisonment Appeal pending Source: AsiaOne, 19 April 2011
The Ren Ci case PP v Goh Kah Heng @ Shi Ming Yi & Raymond Yeung Chi Hang Source: ST, 15 July 2008 The CEO of Ren Ci (Goh) and his aide (Yeung) were charged with offences of criminal breach of trust under the Penal Code and giving false information under the Charities Act Both accused were convicted on all charges and sentenced to 10 months and 9 months imprisonment respectively The appeals against conviction and sentence was heard on 13 April 2010. The High Court reduced Goh s sentence reduced to 6 months imprisonment and dismissed Yeung s appeal
The NKF case PP v T T Durai CEO of a prominent local charity Given $20,000 to someone as a token of appreciation, with an invoice for ad hoc services Source: CNA, 20 May 2008 Convicted of a charge of using the invoice to mislead the charity Sentenced to 3 months imprisonment Affirmed by the High Court
The AEM case PP v Ang Seng Thor The accused bribed employees of a company that purchased from his. Pleaded guilty, given the maximum fine. Appeal by the Prosecution, that the custodial threshold had been crossed. The High Court agreed, and increased the sentence to a total of 12 weeks imprisonment and $50000 fine.
The IKEA case PP v Tee Fook Boon Andrew Largest private corruption case: more than $2 million over 7 years. Source: ST, 30 Dec 2010 F&B operations manager at IKEA bribed Sentenced to 4 months imprisonment and $180,000 fine Enhanced on appeal to a total of 40 weeks imprisonment and $180,000 fine.
Challenges for the Future Increasing sophistication of fraud / commercial crimes International / cross-border issues Increasing use of technology by perpetrators
Responses Training Not just in law, but also background / domain knowledge Attachments / secondments to various agencies / organisations Cooperation with counterpart agencies Greater integration of enforcement and legal teams
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