Ex-bank executive accused of stealing $2.1m in shopping vouchers

[Cloud]

Ex-bank executive accused of stealing $2.1m in shopping vouchers

Published on Mar 20, 2012
By Elena Chong

A former bank executive was charged in court on Tuesday with stealing and misappropriating 43,156 pieces of shopping vouchers totalling about $2.1 million.

Anthony Lim Boon Liak, 43, was assistant vice-president of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation when he allegedly stole 4,516 pieces of Takashimaya shopping vouchers worth $225,800 between February and September 2009, and pocketed 38,200 pieces of vouchers amounting to $1.9 million between September 2009 and August last year.

He faces 34 charges in all - 15 of theft, two of criminal breach of trust and another 17 of selling the vouchers for $2.1 million.

He is said in the 17 charges to have converted property which represented his benefits from criminal conduct by selling 42,716 pieces of vouchers between 2009 and 2011.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.

 

[Anonymouse]

Ex-HSBC executive jailed over $2m of shopping vouchers

Published on Oct 22, 2012
By Elena Chong

A senior bank officer with Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) was jailed a total of 8 1/2 years today for theft and other offences over $2 million worth of shopping vouchers.

Anthony Lim Boon Liak, 43, was an assistant vice-president and programme manager of the HSBC's consumer banking division at Alexandra Terrace and later at Mapletree Business City at Pasir Panjang Road when he committed 39 offences.

He admitted to eight charges of theft and criminal breach of trust as a servant and money laundering involving $1.96 million worth of Takashimaya shopping vouchers between 2009 and last year. The remaining charges were taken into consideration.

Between February and September 2009, Lim stole 4,516 pieces of vouchers worth $225,800 from a locked compactor from his employer at The Comtech in Alexandra Terrace.

Read the full report in The Straits Times on Monday (Oct 22).

 

[hokkien]

Got a good job with fat pay yet still dunno how to think.

 

[gz0707]

Why did the bank exec get 8 years while the M1 guy is jailed for 6 years? The amount stolen seems to be the same. Maybe the legal guru here can shed some light.

An M1 account manager was jailed six years in total for criminal breach of trust and money laundering. Matthew Yeo Kay Keng, 35, had siphoned $2 million in two years from the telco by selling stolen phones to third parties. Matthew Yeo Kay Keng blew most of it on luxury cars including Porsches, watches and bags. He even invested $300,000 in a science-fiction movie project called Metalgraves as he thought he would be famous in Hollywood if the film took off. However, he would not be going anywhere for the next six years.

The 35-year-old was on Friday jailed for five years for criminal breach of trust and another year for money laundering. He had pleaded guilty earlier this month. Yeo had misappropriated 3,085 handsets belonging to M1 between 2008 and 2010. The account manager first created subscription contracts for mobile services purportedly made for corporate customers. Then, on the pretext that he would deliver these personally to the customers, he would sell off the handsets at near their retail prices to resellers. The offences were uncovered by M1 during an internal reorganisation last November.

Investigations revealed that the embezzler had a penchant for fine things. In June last year, Yeo bought a Porsche for $244,383. Less than five months later, he traded it for $230,000 for another costlier Porsche and by forking out a further $207,284. The watches he bought included Audemars Piguet, Rolex, Patek Philippe and Hublot. He also even invested in Crossback arowanas, a type of ornamental fish. His lawyer Manoj Nandwani informed the court yesterday that the $300,000 invested in the movie project is now the subject of a civil suit.