SINGAPORE — A former assistant operations manager at an iPhone repair firm pocketed more than S$2 million by teaming up with an ex-colleague to steal defective phones and sell them for S$100 to S$550 each.

The pair sold 25,501 phones and earned more than S$5 million over a period of about 18 months. Their illegal scheme came to light only after auditors from the manufacturer, Apple, conducted a surprise check. 

Lim Jen Hee, 51, was sentenced to nine years’ jail on Wednesday (July 12). He had claimed trial in 2021 to two charges of conspiring with his ex-colleague to commit criminal breach of trust. 

In his defence, Lim did not dispute his role in selling the phones but claimed that he believed the scheme was entirely legal, and that he was unaware that his ex-colleague had stolen the phones.

However, he was convicted after a district judge found his defence unbelievable as well as “contrived and both externally and internally inconsistent”. 

His accomplice, Serene Ng Shu Kian, was also sentenced to nine years’ jail in January 2021 after pleading guilty to one count each of criminal breach of trust as a servant and using benefits from criminal conduct.

Lim intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence. He remains out on S$120,000 bail. 

WHAT HAPPENED 

Between June 2015 and December 2015, Lim was employed as an assistant operations manager at Pegatron Service Singapore. The firm provided repair services for Apple in Singapore and other Asian countries. 

He got to know Ng, who had been employed there since October 2014 and was a logistics manager at the time of the offences.

As part of her job, Ng received and assigned defective iPhones to repair teams, then delivered the devices to the relevant destination.

Even after Lim left the company, he remained in “good contact” with Ng and regarded her as a friend.

In late 2017, the pair agreed to steal the defective phones and sell them to an overseas buyer found by Lim. 

They did so by exploiting loopholes in Apple and Pegatron’s processes so that the companies would not realise there were missing phones. 

Ng was responsible for packing and sending the iPhones from Pegatron to an address in Malaysia provided by Lim, who was responsible for liaising with the overseas buyer. 

Lim also provided her with the details of the transaction such as the number of iPhones and the models that the buyer wanted, as well as the sale prices.

At all times, only Lim communicated directly with the buyer. Ng did not know who was receiving the iPhones in Malaysia. 

After selling the phones, the pair split the profits, with court documents stating that Lim pocketed between S$2.2 million and S$2.9 million, while Ng got around S$3.1 milion from the scheme.

Their offences came to light only in May 2019 after auditors from Apple’s compliance team conducted a surprise audit on Pegatron. 

Court documents state that Pegatron had to compensate Apple about US$5 million (S$6.6 million) for the defective phones that Ng stole in batches on more than 99 occasions.

'PLAYED A PIVOTAL ROLE'

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Zhi Hao sought a sentence of between 11 and 14 years' jail, saying that Lim had played a “pivotal role” in the offences. 

He said that Lim was the initiator of the scheme and had suggested the plan to Ng as early as 2015 when he was still employed at Pegatron. 

“More importantly, he was crucial to the scheme’s success because he was the only one with the means to sell the iPhones,” DPP Tan said. 

He added that Lim had found the overseas buyer and was the only one who liaised with the buyer. 

“In other words, without (Lim's) involvement, the scheme would never have taken off because Serene simply had no ability to source for a buyer for the iPhones,” he said. 

The man’s lawyer, Navinder Singh Nijar from Kscgp Juris LLP, disagreed and said that Lim was only a “middle man” tasked to find buyers for Ng. 

District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam agreed that there was no clear evidence showing that Lim had proposed or initiated the scheme. 

However, she noted that it was evident Lim had readily agreed to Ng’s request to find a buyer for the stolen phones. 

She agreed with the prosecution’s point that Lim’s role was pivotal in the success of the scheme and was equally important in making it happen.

For criminal breach of trust as a servant, Lim could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that the man pocketed about S$3.1 million from the scheme. This is incorrect. The amount was between S$2.2 million and S$2.9 million. We are sorry for the error.