Jail for ex-manager who took S$57,000 from employer, made unsuspecting colleagues deposit cash into his account

SINGAPORE — After pocketing more than S$57,000 of his employer's cash to pay back moneylenders, Yee Kun Fatt left Singapore on a two-month trip to China and Vietnam funded by some of the remaining ill-gotten gains.

When Yee, now aged 50, didn't turn up for work at Gao Ji Food, where he was operations manager, his boss discovered that S$57,144 entrusted to Yee was missing and lodged a police report over the matter.

On Friday (May 26), Yee was sentenced to 10 months' jail after pleading guilty to a single charge of criminal breach of trust.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that Yee misappropriated the company's money between Nov 9, 2018 and Feb 18, 2019 in 30 transactions and even roped in his colleagues to deposit the funds into his own bank account.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kathy Chu said that as part of Yee's job, he had to oversee the daily operations of 26 food outlets and collect cash from sales at three outlets located within coffee shops at Dover Crescent, Dawson and Bedok North.

After collecting the cash, Yee was required to deposit it into the firm's bank account.

However, from Nov 9, 2018, Yee started to steal the cash collected from the three outlets.

In his first week of offending, Yee used the cash to repay loans plus interest to moneylenders.

Yee then used money pocketed the next week to make up the shortfall in cash that was deposited into the company's bank account the week before.

He did this to avoid raising any suspicions among his bosses over the deposited amount.

Yee even enlisted the help of unsuspecting colleagues on at least 16 occasions to deposit the stolen money into his personal bank account, DPP Chu said.

On Feb 21, 2019, Yee took S$7,000 of the money that he had stolen to fund a trip to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

He returned to Singapore on April 20, where he called the police to surrender himself.

Court documents did not elaborate on the circumstances of Yee's return to Singapore and surrender.

Yee has not made any restitution to the company.

Seeking a jail term of between 10 and 12 months, DPP Chu asked the court to consider the sizeable amount involved and also the fact that Yee had taken steps to cover up his act.

She reminded the court that not only did Yee "brazenly" task other staff to help him, but he had left the country with some of the money, too.

In delivering his sentence, District Judge Ow Yong Tuck Leong said that Yee's dishonest act had not been a "one-off" occurrence.

For committing criminal breach of trust, Yee could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.