SINGAPORE —  A former senior executive with the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) was sentenced to two years and one month’s jail on Monday (April 3) for misappropriating printer cartridges valued at S$93,116.14 and selling them on Carousell to pay his own bills.

Zulkiflie Yacob, 45, pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust by a public servant.

He was sentenced to 11 months’ jail for one of these charges and 14 months for the other. Both sentences will run concurrently, from April 28. 

He was given a discharge amounting to an acquittal for another charge of criminal breach of trust, while a fourth charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Zulkiflie said he had used the sales proceeds from the misappropriated cartridges to pay for his bills and expenses.

WHAT HAPPENED

During his course of work, Zulkiflie was in charge of procuring office supplies, including purchasing and monitoring office stationery such as printer cartridges.

In April 2016, he began deliberately ordering more printer cartridges than necessary for CRA’s use, using the regulator’s financial budget, with the intention of selling the extra cartridges and keeping the sales proceeds.

He justified the overpurchases by saying that the number of printer cartridges left was low and needed to be replenished. 

Between April 2016 and October 2018, he ended up misappropriating 753 printer cartridges valued at S$93,116.14.

He listed these printer cartridges on his account on online marketplace Carousell. 

His actions came to light during a CRA audit, which revealed a discrepancy between the number of printer cartridges purchased and the actual number used and left in stock. 

CRA then lodged a police report, and Zulkiflie was arrested on March 12, 2020.

During the course of investigations, he said that he had used the sales proceeds to pay his bills and expenses as he had declared financial embarrassment in 2015. 

On Jan 15, he made partial restitution of S$25,000 to the Gambling Regulatory Authority, the new name for CRA.

The prosecution sought 30 months' jail in total while the defence asked for a lower term of 16 months.

However, District Judge Jasvender Kaur said she could not accept a sentencing discount as she found that the offences were deliberate and had a degree of planning.

“I do not accept he is entitled to a sentencing discount on the fact that he is a public servant for 18 years, given the repetitive nature of the offending and the fact that he had time to reflect on his offending but carried on for two and a half years," she said.

For each charge of criminal breach of trust as a public servant, Zulkiflie could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined. 

He was represented by defence lawyer Azri Imran Tan from IRB Law. The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Niranjan Ranjakunalan.