Jail for ex-SingPost manager who pocketed S$47,000, got reprieve from boss, then took S$61,000 worth of stamps

SINGAPORE — While working as the branch manager of Philatelic Store@GPO, a retail shop at SingPost Centre in Paya Lebar, Toh Chi Mun misappropriated more than S$47,000 meant for the store's cash register.

When Toh was caught during a company audit, his reporting manager allowed Toh to repay the money and did not report the matter to police.

But even after that let-off, Toh, 32, then began selling SingPost stamps privately for his own profit.

For his actions, the Malaysian was sentenced to 22 months in jail on Friday (Oct 14). He will begin his sentence next Friday.

WHAT HAPPENED

As branch manager of Philatelic Store@GPO, Toh's job was to count the cash collected in the register at the end of the day and place it in safe boxes.

As Toh was entrusted to do this without supervision, he started taking some money for himself in January 2018.

From January to December 2018 and January to April 2019, Toh took S$35,250 and S$11,750 respectively. Court documents read that he took the money for his “personal expenses”, but did not elaborate further.

A company audit in April 2019 brought his misdeeds to light.

When his reporting manager agreed to give him a reprieve if he repaid the money, he borrowed S$20,000 from his mother and paid monthly instalments of S$2,000 for six months, the court heard.

But Toh then started stealing SingPost stamps and selling them privately to pay off the remaining S$15,000. He continued his scheme even after the S$15,000 has been paid off.

He was eventually able to repay the full S$47,000 in February 2021.

S$61,000 WORTH OF STAMP SALES POCKETED

The court heard that on Jan 6, 2020, Toh began to order additional stamps from the SingPost warehouse so he could sell them privately and pocket the proceeds.

As he was the branch manager, he would approve his own orders and accept them without reflecting this in the retail shop’s point-of-sale system. His orders would then be reflected as "in-transit".

He did this 23 times between Jan 11 and Dec 1, 2021, which amounted to S$61,042.90 worth of stamps.

The stamps were sold to customers who paid using cash and declined a receipt and two regular stamp bulk-purchasers whom Toh charged half price. Court documents did not state how much Toh profited from his scheme.

The court heard that on Dec 17, 2021, then-assistant vice president of SingPost Peggy Teo made a report about the "sale of stamps at below face value and of unaccounted stocks of stamps".

His employment contract was terminated in December 2021 due to "poor work performance".

Toh, who was unrepresented, apologised for his actions and to SingPost.

For criminal breach of trust, Toh could have been jailed for up to 15 years, fined, or both. 

The punishment for ordering the delivery of an item to cheat is a jail term of up to 10 years, a fine or both.

As he repeated his actions more than twice, these punishment provisions could have been doubled.