Ex-NTU director charged with conspiring to cheat university of over S$200,000

SINGAPORE — A former director of the innovation and enterprise arm of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was charged in court on Wednesday (Nov 28), accused of conspiring with others to cheat the university and its subsidiary companies of more than S$200,000.

Cheng Choong Hung, 55, faces a total of 120 charges for offences such as cheating, money laundering, and engaging in corrupt transactions.

Court documents revealed that Cheng allegedly engaged in a conspiracy with Louise Lai Pei Hsien on 10 occasions between August 2014 and February 2015 to cheat NTU, its innovation and enterprise arm known as NTUitive, and NTUitive's subsidiary TechBiz Xccelerator of S$117,000.

Lai was also charged in court on Wednesday.

A former director of Lai I-KnowHow Ptd Ltd, Lai is alleged to have submitted invoices from the firm to NTU and its related companies for various jobs, including market research, website and mobile application development.

I-KnowHow did not perform any of the jobs, but was paid S$117,000.

Cheng is also said to have conspired with Lai to submit I-KnowHow invoices to Ms Lu Jiawen, a purported employee of TechBiz Xccelerator, for the outsourced developmental works.

This was done to deceive NTUitive into believing that Ms Lu had outsourced the works to the company, but this was not done. NTUitive paid S$44,000 to Ms Lu.

Cheng allegedly conspired with Ms Lu to cheat NTU into believing she was a TechBiz Xccelerator staff member when she was not. NTU paid her six months’ salary totalling some S$21,000, between July 2015 and December 2015.

It is not known which company Ms Lu was really working for, or if she will be dealt with by the courts.

Separately, Cheng is said to have conspired with Fung Kwok Pam, director of design and technology studio Voidworks, to cheat NTU and TechBiz Xccelerator of S$43,000, by submitting invoices from Voidworks on three occasions between March 2015 and March 2016.

Cheng also conspired with then-NTU technical manager Amununelle Jayasinghe Mudiyanselage Udeepa Gayantha Jayasinghe to submit false Voidwork quotations to NTUitive’s financial controller.

Lai faces another two cheating charges of colluding with a Wong Chee Leong to cheat NTU. In January 2016, she allegedly made Wong sign off as a service provider to provide consultancy services.

No such services were offered, but NTU paid S$30,000.

In total, Cheng and Lai cheated NTU and the two subsidiary companies of S$255,000.

After the payments were received in their respective accounts, Cheng was said to have channelled the money into a bank account under the name of Mr Xu Meng.

Court documents revealed that Cheng had access to Mr Xu’s bank account, and he then transferred the money to his personal account.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) has since seized about S$280,000 from Cheng.

The CPIB said in a media release that it takes a serious view against corruption and any criminal activities. “Members of the public are also reminded that it is an offence to conceal, attempt to conceal or to knowingly assist another person to conceal any ill-gotten proceeds,” it added.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, an NTU spokesperson said that Cheng, known as "Viktor Cheng", is no longer with the university. He had left in June 2016. The spokesperson added: “NTU reported the matter to the CPIB in August 2016 as soon as it found out about the alleged wrongdoing.”

For each charge of cheating, Cheng and Lai could each be jailed 10 years and fined if convicted. For laundering money gained from cheating, Cheng could also face a jail term of up to 10 years, and/or a fine of up to S$500,000.

No plea was taken from the duo, who will return to court on Jan 3 next year. Cheng and Lai are out on bail of S$50,000 and S$20,000, respectively.

MORE ABOUT THE ACCUSED

Cheng Choong Hung:

A check online showed that Cheng was a former director of information and communication technology at NTU. He also served as deputy chief executive officer of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore for six years, where he “masterminded the development of Intellectual Property management capabilities in the public and private sector”.

Louise Lai Pei Hsien:

On her LinkedIn profile, Lai is listed as the partner and chief executive officer of InnoReach, a consultancy and advisory firm that specialises in services in commercialisation, innovation and outreach.

Her online profile states that she has been a tech entrepreneur since 2014, having founded two such companies specialising in big data analytics and social media marketing. Lai wrote that she has more than two years of experience in providing “end-to-end services in digital marketing” to start-ups, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and institutions such as “Innovation Centre of Nanyang Technological University”.