Ex-UBS officer fined $10,000

[Fu Xi]

Jul 27, 2010
Ex-UBS officer fined $10,000

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> WHILE working as an IT specialist with the UBS bank here, Mark Andrew Robertson was sourcing funds from friends for a private investment scheme.
Things did not go according to plan and on Tuesday, the Briton and Singapore permanent resident was fined $8,000 for making a false document under the Computer Misuse Act. He was also slapped with a $2,000 fine for committing criminal breach of trust (CBT) of $2,980.

A district court heard that in 2008, Robertson, 41, was the associate director of IT infrastructure at UBS. Privately, he was raising investments for Perdomo Cigars Asia, which operates a gentlemen's club in Bangkok. The company promised a 15 per cent return on money loaned to it for a period of six months. Robertson pitched the investment scheme to two of his Indonesian wife's friends.

Ms Suganthy Kannairam put in $200,000 while Ms Ratna Gilliland came up with $80,000. He also told Ms Gilliland that the investment was backed by UBS and promised her a certificate of deposit. Sometime in July 2008, Robertson copied the bank's letterhead and prepared a forged certificate, which he handed to her. It had been Robertson's plan to pay the investors a 12 per cent return while collecting 15 per cent from Perdomo.

As he had not disclosed this to the two women, it was misappropriation in the eyes of the law. Robertson admitted to skimming $2,980 from the returns to be paid to Ms Kannairam. Two other charges of misappropriating a total of $3,500 was taken into consideration by District Judge Sarjit Singh for the purposes of sentencing.

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[chowka]

Former UBS employee Robertson had also illegally gained access to the bank's computer system to print out a letterhead,
which he later used to forge a certificate. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
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[chowka]

A forged letter and stolen profits


A forged letter and stolen profits
Man fined for scamming investors in cigar company

by Shaffiq Alkhatib
05:55 AM Jul 28, 2010

Digital CRO Picture - Robertson Mark Andrew

<script type="text/javascript"> var fontIndex = 2; var fontSize = new Array('0.63em', '0.69em', '0.75em', '0.88em', '1em', '1.13em'); </script> SINGAPORE - A former senior executive of financial firm UBS has been fined $10,000 for misusing his office computer and misappropriating $3,000.

Briton Mark Andrew Robertson (picture), who was the company's associate director of IT infrastructure, used the computer in July 2008 to copy an image of the UBS letterhead onto a Microsoft Word document.

The 41-year-old Singapore Permanent Resident then forged a certificate of deposit, which was given to Ms Ratna Gilliland, who joined an investment scheme.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi told the court that Robertson had entered a joint investment in 2003 with his former university mates in the equities of a Hong Kong-registered company, Perdomo Cigars Asia Limited. The company had a scheme that promised investors returns of up to 15 per cent for a six-month investment.

He pitched it to Ms Gilliland, who transferred $80,000 into his bank account in June 2008. Robertson claimed that the investment was backed by UBS and promised her that she would receive a certificate of deposit from the firm. He also forged the signature of Perdomo managing director M Hillman Lentz on the certificate.

Another investor, Ms Suganthy Kannairam, also transferred $100,000 to a bank account maintained by Perdomo in October 2007. Robertson received about $115,000 from the company in his bank account on March 19, 2008. This sum was meant for Ms Kannairam and comprised her principal investment plus returns of 15 per cent amounting to $15,000.

But Ms Kannairam only received $112,000, while Robertson pocketed $3,000. That was because he gave her the money based on the minimum returns of 12 per cent instead 15 per cent.

Robertson has made full restitution of all the sums involved.

For misusing his office computer, Robertson could have been jailed up to 10 years, fined a maximum of $50,000 or both. For misappropriating the money, he could have been jailed up to seven years and fined.