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Certis Cisco man stole $2m
By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent
An auxiliary police officer stole $2 million from Certis Cisco when he was delivering consignments of cash to a vault at the premises. --PHOTO: CISCO
AN AUXILIARY police officer stole $2 million from Certis Cisco when he was delivering consignments of cash to a vault at the premises, a district court heard on Thursday.
Stanley Ong Beng Hock, 28, was on duty as a 'banker'' at the Cash Processing Centre (CPC) at the Jalan Afifi premises at the time.
The Malaysian pleaded guilty to stealing $2 million from his employer at about noon on April 12. He also admitted to removing $1.2 million which represented the benefits of his criminal conduct to Malaysia through the Woodlands checkpoint; and moving the sum when it exceed $30,k000 without giving a report.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jean Chan told the court that Ong stole the money while he was responsible for delivering nine consignments of cash from the CPC on the fourth level to the vault on level one.
He purposely stacked up most of the boxes of cash onto three of the four trolleys, leaving the fourth with very few boxes of cash. He placed an envelope with $2 million in $1,000 notes on top of the boxes on the fourth trolley. While pushing the trolleys out to the search area, he purposely positioned the three trolleys which were stacked high with boxes before the fourth trolley to block the view of two officers.
The DPP said he used his overall jacket to conceal the envelope of cash.
While the two officers were checking the first three trolleys, Ong made an excuse to go to the washroom. He then removed his overall which was concealing the envelope with the $2 million out of the search area. He hid the envelope behind a sofa in the rest room.
Subsequently, he returned to the rest room and tore the envelope to remove the $2 million before leaving for lunch.
An alarm was raised at 2.45pm when he failed to report back from lunch.
An audit was immediately conducted and it was found that $2 million was missing.
Meanwhile, Ong met his colleague, Tan Chee Wey, 41, at the toilet of the hawker centre at Old Airport Road that afternoon, and handed him $800,000 in a plastic bag. He said he he had stolen the cash and made a pact with Tan to use the $800,000 to pay off his (Ong's) debts. He promised to give him 10 per cent of the money as commission.
Two days later on April 14, Ong was arrested by the Malaysian police in a rental flat in Kuala Lumpur. Apart from the $650,000 found at the flat, police seized another $794,757 from Tan, whose case is pending.
DPP Chan pressed for a stiff sentence, saying the offences were premeditated and Ong had abused and exploited the trust and authority given to him as an auxiliary police officer.
Ong made an unusual request to be caned in place of a long imprisonment term but was told by District Judge Liew Thiam Leng that there was no caning for the offences he had committed.
He will be sentenced on July 9.
He faces up to seven years and a fine for theft as a servant. For the money-laundering charge, he can be fined up to $500,000 and/or up to seven years in jail.
For moving more than $30,000 without giving a report, the penalty is a fine of up to $50,000 and/or up to three years' jail.
Certis Cisco man stole $2m
By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent
An auxiliary police officer stole $2 million from Certis Cisco when he was delivering consignments of cash to a vault at the premises. --PHOTO: CISCO
AN AUXILIARY police officer stole $2 million from Certis Cisco when he was delivering consignments of cash to a vault at the premises, a district court heard on Thursday.
Stanley Ong Beng Hock, 28, was on duty as a 'banker'' at the Cash Processing Centre (CPC) at the Jalan Afifi premises at the time.
The Malaysian pleaded guilty to stealing $2 million from his employer at about noon on April 12. He also admitted to removing $1.2 million which represented the benefits of his criminal conduct to Malaysia through the Woodlands checkpoint; and moving the sum when it exceed $30,k000 without giving a report.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jean Chan told the court that Ong stole the money while he was responsible for delivering nine consignments of cash from the CPC on the fourth level to the vault on level one.
He purposely stacked up most of the boxes of cash onto three of the four trolleys, leaving the fourth with very few boxes of cash. He placed an envelope with $2 million in $1,000 notes on top of the boxes on the fourth trolley. While pushing the trolleys out to the search area, he purposely positioned the three trolleys which were stacked high with boxes before the fourth trolley to block the view of two officers.
The DPP said he used his overall jacket to conceal the envelope of cash.
While the two officers were checking the first three trolleys, Ong made an excuse to go to the washroom. He then removed his overall which was concealing the envelope with the $2 million out of the search area. He hid the envelope behind a sofa in the rest room.
Subsequently, he returned to the rest room and tore the envelope to remove the $2 million before leaving for lunch.
An alarm was raised at 2.45pm when he failed to report back from lunch.
An audit was immediately conducted and it was found that $2 million was missing.
Meanwhile, Ong met his colleague, Tan Chee Wey, 41, at the toilet of the hawker centre at Old Airport Road that afternoon, and handed him $800,000 in a plastic bag. He said he he had stolen the cash and made a pact with Tan to use the $800,000 to pay off his (Ong's) debts. He promised to give him 10 per cent of the money as commission.
Two days later on April 14, Ong was arrested by the Malaysian police in a rental flat in Kuala Lumpur. Apart from the $650,000 found at the flat, police seized another $794,757 from Tan, whose case is pending.
DPP Chan pressed for a stiff sentence, saying the offences were premeditated and Ong had abused and exploited the trust and authority given to him as an auxiliary police officer.
Ong made an unusual request to be caned in place of a long imprisonment term but was told by District Judge Liew Thiam Leng that there was no caning for the offences he had committed.
He will be sentenced on July 9.
He faces up to seven years and a fine for theft as a servant. For the money-laundering charge, he can be fined up to $500,000 and/or up to seven years in jail.
For moving more than $30,000 without giving a report, the penalty is a fine of up to $50,000 and/or up to three years' jail.
