Tampines Town Council
A company director who falsely billed Tampines Town Council for higher-cost water pumps than those actually installed was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Tuesday (13 May).
Zhang Shuyan, 59, had earlier pleaded guilty in April to a charge of falsifying accounts, according to The Straits Times.
The court noted that he had fully repaid the excess amount — more than S$233,000 — before formal charges were brought against him.
While District Judge Kenneth Chin acknowledged this restitution, he stressed that Zhang’s actions constituted a serious breach as they involved public funds and occurred over an extended timeframe.
FYH Integrated, a company providing electrical and mechanical maintenance services, was founded in 2009 by Zhang and his wife with S$500,000 in paid-up capital.
In 2016, the firm secured a three-year contract with Tampines Town Council.
Under the contract, FYH was tasked with maintaining and replacing pumps, as well as servicing refuse chute flushing systems in Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks overseen by the council.
Source: Google Maps
The agreement included a schedule listing the approved items and their respective prices that FYH could charge the town council.
Between April 2016 and July 2017, FYH replaced 267 single-stage water pumps in the Tampines estate.
These pumps, which were not covered under the approved pricing schedule, typically cost about S$550 apiece.
Instead of billing for single-stage pumps, FYH submitted 203 invoices charging for multi-stage pumps, each priced at around S$1,425.
This led to the town council paying the firm a total of S$380,551.04 for the replacements.
The overbilling went unnoticed until August 2017, when a new managing agent, EM Services, took over and flagged the discrepancies.
A property officer reviewing past invoices noticed that the type of pump installed did not match the items being charged.
Following the discovery, Zhang agreed to refund the excess payments.
Most of the restitution was made by offsetting other outstanding invoices, with the remaining balance of about S$1,900 repaid in April 2024.
Prosecutors David Koh and Yeow Xuan told the court that Zhang had approved the use of inflated invoices, motivated in part by the additional profit FYH could gain.
They highlighted that public money was involved and that the false claims spanned more than a year.
Although Zhang pleaded guilty and returned the full amount, Judge Chin pointed out that the offences involved a public institution and demonstrated a prolonged lapse in integrity.
For falsifying accounts, individuals in Singapore can be punished with up to 10 years’ jail, a fine, or both.
As Zhang’s offence was amalgamated (combining multiple counts into one), he could have faced an even stiffer sentence under the law.
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Featured image adapted from Tampines Town Council on Facebook.