Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Ex-assistant manager at upscale Fullerton Pavilion restaurant jailed 9 months for taking S$21,000

SINGAPORE — An assistant manager at an upscale Italian restaurant in the Central Business District repeatedly took money from the company’s safe. He was eventually found out when the sum became too large and he could not replace it.

SINGAPORE — An assistant manager at an upscale Italian restaurant in the Central Business District repeatedly took money from the company’s safe, but would return it after he got his salary.

But the sums grew larger, until he could not repay them, and he was eventually found out.

Maja Iskandaria Mohamed Juffri’s boss discovered his actions in April. By then, he had taken S$21,223.41 of the restaurant’s sales proceeds.

The 35-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to nine months’ jail on Monday (Oct 21) after pleading guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust as a servant.

Maja was employed at Monti at 1-Pavilion, located at The Fullerton Pavilion along Collyer Quay. He was responsible for collecting the restaurant’s daily cash proceeds and making sure they tallied with the record of daily sales.

He began taking money from the restaurant’s safe in January. While he initially returned the money at the end of the month when he was paid his salary, he could not do so anymore when the amounts he took became too large.

In April, the restaurant’s finance department noticed that the daily sales proceeds had not been deposited into the firm's bank account for some time.

When the general manager asked Maja about this, he admitted that he had been taking the money. He took sums ranging from S$189 to S$5,469 on 20 occasions from March 28 to April 19.

He has made restitution of S$760.50 so far.

Maja had previously been convicted of a similar offence and forgery in 2013. He was fined S$5,000 and jailed for five weeks, also for criminal breach of trust, the following year.

On Monday, he told the court in mitigation that he had remitted the money to the Philippines to help his former girlfriend’s daughter, who was suffering from kidney failure.

They have a young son but are not together anymore, he added.

He also claimed that the girlfriend had lost another daughter to a similar illness but he could not save her then as he did not have enough money.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim, however, noted that Maja could not provide receipts when the police asked him to give evidence.

“At the time, I did not have the receipts with me but if I were to go to Western Union, I’m sure I will be able to retrieve them,” Maja replied.

District Judge Carol Ling told him that she was willing to take his word for it, but his rationale for stealing did not make his actions right.

She added: “You do have people who believe in you. There is a lot more ahead, so don’t look back and don’t give yourself a reason to come back to court again.”

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

Related topics

Monti at 1-Pavilion restaurant breach of trust court crime jail Philippines

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.