3 people were sentenced to imprisonment terms between 18 months and 22 months after pleading guilty to multiple counts of cheating and forgery by defrauding into Spring Singapore releasing almost $140,000 in public monies.
- The accused persons pleaded guilty in the State Courts of Singapore in 2020.
- At the material time, they collaborated with a former senior executive of Spring Singapore to carry out the offences. This executive, who was the mastermind of the scam, was jailed for four years in March 2019.
- At the material time, he decided to defraud the agency by using false documents for it to disburse money to shell business entities and the accomplices took part in the scam subsequently.
- He took advantage of his role and duties at Spring Singapore which included assessing applications and claims for the Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) scheme which gave cash vouchers worth $5,000 to small and medium-sized enterprises to develop their capabilities. The group falsified the claims to dishonestly obtain reimbursement from Spring Singapore – they submitted false invoices and proofs of payment so that the money would be disbursed after Spring Singapore approved the claims.
- Full restitution of the monies was made.
- It is unclear whether they were each represented by a Criminal Defence Lawyer during the presentation of their mitigation plea and when the Court imposed the sentences.
Forgery for the purpose of cheating is an offence under section 468 of the Penal Code (Cap 224) which states:
468. Whoever commits forgery, intending that the document or electronic record forged shall be used for the purpose of cheating, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine.
More information on the case may be found here.