AML/CFT: company's DGM embezzled SGD675,000, jailed
XIE Ming Lang aged 56 has been jailed for six years for embezzling SGD674,705 from marine and offshore engineering company Hoo Huat Engineering. He admitted that sum but the total amount in charges was just under SGD1 million.
XIE took the money in stages and was convicted on three charges relating to several incidents. He worked for the company for seven years, joining in 2002. But in 2007, he began to steal. A year later he was promoted to deputy general manager. Bizarrely, this was after his conduct had been discovered.
His job was credit control: he collected payments from customers. But while he handed over much of the money he collected, he kept some back.
When he was promoted, he was told that he was being given a last chance. But he did not change. He has repaid only some SGD7,000.
The money was spent on gambling debts and some other debt, suggesting (but not expressly stated in court) that he may have been indebted to "ah longs" (the Singaporean term for loan sharks).
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