Ex-food court manager jailed for pocketing S$37,000, left confession note after resigning

• Lee Chun Beng pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust
• He stole more than S$37,000 from his employer, then quit before he was found out
• Lee left a note for his employer admitting the theft

SINGAPORE — After taking about S$37,000 from a safe drawer at the food court where he worked, Lee Chun Beng spent about S$3,000 of it on a plane ticket for his girlfriend and gambled the rest away at a casino.

He later resigned on his own accord. His boss later checked the safe drawer and discovered a handwritten note from Lee, who said that he had taken the money.

Lee, 52, was jailed two years and three months on Thursday (March 25) for what he did. The Singaporean pleaded guilty to a single charge of criminal breach of trust by an employee.

He began working as the manager of SG Eat Food Court, located in 100AM mall in Tanjong Pagar, on April 4 last year.

His job scope included collecting daily cash sales proceeds and depositing them into the company’s bank account, and managing the food court’s cash float monies that were kept in the safe drawer. He was the only one with access to it.

In a span of six days — between Nov 13 and 18 last year — he pocketed S$37,151 of the cash sales proceeds and cash float monies.

The following day, he sent a phone text message to his company director, saying that he was on medical leave. He then sent another text message the next day to say he was resigning.

He could not be reached after that.

That evening, the director checked the safe drawer and discovered the handwritten note signed by Lee. He then made a police report.

Lee surrendered himself at Bukit Merah East Neighbourhood Police Centre on Jan 11 and was immediately arrested. He has not made restitution for the money he took.

PAST CONVICTIONS

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan Yen Seow sought at least 30 months’ jail, arguing that Lee deserved a stiffer sentence due to his past three convictions for criminal breach of trust.

Most recently, in 2013, he was jailed one year and four months after telling his victims that he had previously worked in an Australian resort and that it was looking to employ new workers. When the victims paid him cash for air tickets to take up the job offer, he no longer responded to them.

DPP Tan said: "The accused’s antecedents show that the current offence is no passing lapse, but evidence of a cavalier disregard for the law.” 

In mitigation, Lee — who had no lawyer — said that he was deeply remorseful and asked for a last chance in order to “live a life with purpose and responsibility”.

He claimed that he thought he would get a “special payment” of S$3,000 from the Ministry of Social and Family Development, but did not receive the money by the time November rolled around.

He then misappropriated cash to buy his Vietnamese girlfriend a plane ticket.

“In such a short time, I thought I could use the money first and pay back the money. But once the money didn’t come... I started to gamble to try and win (money) to put (it) back (at work).

“Once I realised I couldn’t do that anymore, I told my boss about the situation,” he added.

He apologised for his mistake and said that if it were not for the Covid-19 pandemic, his girlfriend would not have needed to go home to Vietnam.

Lee could have been jailed up to 15 years and fined.