SINGAPORE — The former assistant superintendent of a welfare home for the destitute, who pocketed more than S$250,000 from the life savings of several residents, was sentenced to 30 months’ jail on Monday (Sept 11). 

Six of Chiang Zhao Xiang’s seven victims had mental conditions such as schizophrenia, and Chiang, who owed a debt to unlicensed moneylenders, targeted them for two reasons: They had substantial savings and made few visits to the bank. 

Between May 2014 and Jan 2015, he withdrew S$220,476 from seven Tembusu Home residents’ bank accounts at automated teller machines (ATMs) and through bank transfers across 169 transactions. But the 31-year-old had started cheating them before that. 

On Nov 27, 2014, Chiang hoodwinked one of the seven victims into believing that the latter’s mother had a S$10,000 hospitalisation bill, and cheated him of the sum. 

This was on top of cleaning out the victim’s bank account of S$64,100, leaving a paltry S$32.44 by Dec 30, 2014.

On Dec 1, he convinced another victim to hand over S$22,000 to help an unidentified woman. 

He took another S$11,290 from the victim’s bank account, leaving it with a balance of S$10.62 just 11 days later.

Chiang started working at Tembusu Home as a personal care and programme executive in December 2010. 

He was employed by Sathya Sai Social Services, a registered charity appointed by the Government to run the home.

In August 2013, he was promoted to assistant superintendent. He managed staff members and oversaw daily operations. 

The belongings of residents — including personal identification cards and bank books — were kept in his or the home’s custody during their stay. 

Shortly after his promotion, Chiang hatched the plot to swindle his victims. 

He took them to the bank secretly, bypassing the protocol to note down the activity in the home’s logbook. During the bank visit, he would tell the victims to obtain an ATM card. 

He would then ask for the ATM card and the accompanying passcode, under the guise of safekeeping the property.

This deviated from the usual practice of updating the property records of residents to include the new ATM cards, and storing the cards in the home’s safe.\

The residents’ bank books — used during regular trips to the bank with staff members to withdraw money — were usually stored in an office cupboard. 

Small amounts were typically withdrawn each time.

To cover his tracks, Chiang hid the victims’ bank books and made excuses for having them in his possession whenever he was asked about them.

He only handed over five of the books to a colleague in January 2015 after repeated requests, and admitted to his misdeeds after being confronted.

His mother repaid the ill-gotten gains on Jan 19, 2015, and Sathya Sai Social Services’ chief executive Chew Sin Poon filed a police report on Feb 5 that year.

Chiang’s victims were elderly and destitute, and most were mentally ill at the time of the offences — leaving them vulnerable to deception and exploitation, Deputy Public Prosecutor  (DPP) David Koh highlighted to the court yesterday.

One victim saw his bank account balance dwindle from S$10,696.85 to S$2.85 in May 2014, said Mr Koh. 

After the victim received goods and services tax vouchers two months later, Chiang again helped himself to the funds, leaving behind S$12.85. 

“That such offences will have negative impacts on an important public service is incontrovertible—the appalling nature of conduct such as the accused’s, if left unchecked, will inevitably cause a loss of confidence in institutions like the home, which provide care for the elderly, destitute and infirm,” said DPP Koh.

Chiang’s lawyer, Mr Jonathan Wong of Tito Isaac & Co, said his client started borrowing from licensed moneylenders in 2011 after running into financial difficulty. 

The interest snowballed and Chiang, now a private-hire car driver, turned to unlicensed moneylenders to pay off his initial loan.

“As (Chiang) did not want these threats and loan sharks to surface and harass his family, he resorted to taking the residents’ money in a moment of desperation,” said Mr Wong. 

Chiang had not used the money for personal items such as wedding expenses, he added.

In February this year, the Ministry of Social and Family Development said the charity had notified the ministry of the unauthorised withdrawals on the same day it filed the police report. 

The charity was directed to carry out an investigation and to implement measures to strengthen internal controls and governance. 

Among the measures implemented were regular savings passbook checks for all residents, on top of existing checks made after routine withdrawals; strengthening administration and processes regarding staff access to residents’ properties; and implementing a whistle-blowing system for staff and residents.