Probation for NSF who cheated Govt of S$2,500 over fraudulent Covid-19 grant applications

SINGAPORE — A full-time national serviceman (NSF) who cheated the Government into giving him S$2,500 worth of Covid-19 financial grants was given 18 months' probation on Tuesday (Jan 19).

Yee Jia Hao, 20, made fraudulent claims from the Temporary Relief Fund (TRF), a government scheme to help Singaporeans who had been financially hit by the Covid-19 crisis. He then used the money to gamble.

Yee pleaded guilty last month to four counts of cheating or attempted cheating. Another six charges, mostly for cheating, were taken into consideration during sentencing.

As part of his probation, Yee has to remain indoors from 10pm to 6am every day and perform 60 hours of community service.

He was also ordered by District Judge Seah Chi-Ling to attend a gambling relapse prevention programme.

In April last year, Yee submitted eight fraudulent TRF claims over two weeks. Five of these were approved and he received the money in his bank account.

He lied in his applications that he had lost at least 30 per cent of his personal income due to the pandemic — a criteria to receive the grant — even though he had really been unemployed before enlisting in National Service.

He also applied for the grant under his father’s and a friend’s names by using their credentials on SingPass, the national passcode system for e-government services and transactions.

Yee had asked his friend for his SingPass credentials ostensibly to help him apply for a SkillsFuture course.

When the friend asked if his credentials would be used for illegal purposes, Yee reassured him four times that they would not.

In his applications to the fund — which is administered by the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the People’s Association — Yee keyed in his bank account details so that he would receive the money when the applications were approved.

An applicant’s eligibility for the grant is automatically determined by an electronic system, based on the information provided. Those who succeed receive an immediate S$500 payout, regardless of how much income they had lost.

“The Temporary Relief Fund is not ‘free money’ to be taken at one’s whim and fancy,” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jeremy Bin told the court last year.

“It is therefore necessary for the court to send a clear message to the public that any attempts to cheat the Government, and to unduly enrich themselves at the expense of those who are truly entitled to the grant, will be met with severe punishment.”

For cheating, Yee could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.

Last year, 43-year-old Edward Goh and former business development executive Chow Jia Chuan, 29, were both jailed after they forged retrenchment letters when applying for Covid-19 financial aid grants from the Government.