Chan Chee Hung, who worked as a senior manager at Soup Restaurant, cheated the company of more than S$920,000 over a period of seven years.
He did so by taking advantage of an accounting loophole, creating fake invoices and allowing funds to go towards fake businesses that his relatives registered.
Source: Google Maps. For illustration purposes only.
The judge sentenced Chan to 81 months’ jail on Friday (20 Oct) for cheating and theft.
According to 8world News, Chan started working as the manager of Soup Restaurant’s central kitchen in 2002. He was later transferred to a subsidiary named Sure Food.
During his time with the company, Chan was in charge of overseeing supply and procurement matters relating to the central kitchen.
As part of the company’s procurement process, the sales invoice has to be verified by two employees:
Upon verification, the invoice would be submitted to the company’s account department, which would process and issue the payment to the supplier.
In 2004, Chan’s wife registered a business called Uni-Vac under her husband’s instructions.
Chan initially intended to use the company to purchase kitchen goods and resell them at a higher price to Soup Restaurant.
However, his plans got bolder when he learned that Soup Kitchen did not audit their kitchen goods inventory.
Instead of reselling goods at a marked-up price, Chan would create fake invoices with Uni-Vac’s letterhead.
He would then forge the signatures of his two subordinates, giving the impression that one of them had ordered the goods and the other had received and inspected them.
Chan would then submit the fake invoice to an accounts staff who’d disburse the sum to Chan’s company.
Chan even enlisted the help of his father and mother-in-law by asking them to register two other companies — Prospac and LSC — to expand the scope of the fraud, reports 8world News.
Over the course of seven years between 2006 and 2013, Chan reportedly cheated Soup Restaurant of over S$920,000.
Soup Restaurant’s chief financial officer eventually found out about the fraud and reported Chan to the police in June 2013.
Chan later compensated Soup Restaurant with S$10,000 but has not made further restitution since.
Chan continued with his dishonourable ways following his shenanigans at Soup Restaurant.
While working as a valet driver in 2020, Chan reportedly stole a cashcard — containing S$152.50 — from a vehicle that he was entrusted with, reported TODAY.
He would also steal cashcards from unlocked vehicles at carparks around Singapore.
Chan reportedly did so on 10 occasions from Jan to Mar 2022, stealing cashcards amounting to over S$600.
In 2020, Chan also became acquainted with a woman, Elizabeth Maria Boyd, who left Singapore for the United States (US).
On at least three occasions between May and July 2020, Chan helped to receive money for Boyd’s alleged bag business in Singapore.
It turns out that at least S$6,000 of the transferred money was proceeds from scams.
Labeling Chan as a “serial cheat” Deputy Public Prosecutor Louis Ngia pointed out that Chan “remained undeterred” by committing other offences while investigations into his previous cases were ongoing.
In mitigation, Chan’s lawyer argued that the 51-year-old had a difficult life and committed the offences to help his family.
District Judge Ronald Gwee, however, argued that any sympathy for Chan’s predicament would be diminished given the lengthy duration during which he took advantage of his company’s loophole.
Chan was eventually sentenced to 81 months’ jail for six counts of cheating and one count of theft. 15 other offences were also taken into consideration.
Also read: S’pore Digital Lock Company Ex-Staff Arrested, Faces Up To 10 Years’ Jail For Cheating
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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