Ex-manager charged over cheating OCBC of $4.9m

[Jabba the Hutt]

Jun 1, 2011

Ex-manager charged over cheating OCBC of $4.9m

By Elena Chong

OCBC Bank Centre. -- ST PHOTO: MALCOLM MCLEOD

A FORMER bank relationship manager was charged in court on Wednesday with multiple cheating charges involving about $4.9 million and transferring the benefits of his crime to various bank accounts.

Tan Wei Chong, 32, was with OCBC Bank when he allegedly deceived the bank into believing that customers had applied for cashier's orders, presented authorisation to debit forms or withdrawn cash from their accounts when he was allegedly behind them.

He is said to have cheated the bank on 31 occasions between November 2007 and August last year.

The amounts he is said to have cheated ranged from $50,000 to $250,000.

Bail of $1 million was offered to Tan who will be back in court on June 15. If convicted, he faces a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine on each charge of cheating.

Each charge under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act carries a fine of up to $500,000 and/or a jail term of up to seven years.

 

[Zhuge Liang]

Jun 29, 2011

Ex-bank officer jailed for cheating, money laundering

By Elena Chong

A FORMER relationship manager of OCBC Bank was jailed for seven years on Wednesday for cheating and money laundering. Tan Wei Chong, 32, had admitted to 11 counts of cheating the bank and four charges of transferring the benefits from cheating to various bank accounts maintained by himself and his wife and other family members.

In all, he faced 46 charges involving $4.7m and EUR88,122 (S$156,776.62)
He committed the offences from November 2007 to August last year. He used most of the money to repay his online gambling debts.

The court heard that he took money from his clients through the use of debit authorisation forms and application forms for cashier's orders.

He would either get them to sign on blank forms or by forging their signatures. He transferred most of the money taken to a joint account maintained by four persons, one of whom is his brother-in-law. Some were also transferred to the personal OCBC accounts of his wife and brother-in-law.

Tan, whose services were terminated last September, could have been jailed for up to 10 years on each count of cheating.