Singapore resident 'very remorseful,' say lawyers
A former finance manager of an IT equipment distributor in Singapore was handed 10 years of jail time after misappropriating over S$5 million from his employer.
Ho Kam Weng, 54, was employed by EZY InfoTech since 2009 and was later left in charge of a corporate bank account of Silver Crown, an EZY-controlled firm established by the distributor to carry out sales in other countries.
The court heard that Ho was in heavy debts to loan sharks in 2015, The Straits Times reported, and began taking money from Silver Crown's corporate bank account to pay for his loans.
According to the report, Ho would transfer money from the Silver Crown's bank account to his personal one, while also withdrawing some money before transferring the rest to designated accounts provided by the moneylenders.
Channel News Asia reported that Ho altered a Statement of Accounts to hide that he misappropriated US$700,000 from a sum of US$1.7 million that was disbursed to Silver Crown's account.
The company's chief finance officer discovered the embezzlement in October 2018 after making bank enquiries once he noticed something was amiss.
The executive then found that Ho embezzled S$5.1 million from Silver Crown's corporate bank account between April 2016 and August 2018, the CNA reported.
Ho confessed to his offences after the EZY management confronted him, reported The Straits Times.
According to the CNA, he also stayed overnight to help management compute the funds he embezzled from the organisation.
Ho's defence lawyers said the former finance manager was "very remorseful," CNA reported, adding that he has an 80-year-old mother who needs to be taken care of.
Ho pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal breach of trust, with every count possibly landing him in jail for up to 15 years.
Prosecution asked the court to order 12 years of jail time. The court, however, only sentenced the former employee to 10 years.
