Salesman jailed for cheating companies of $220,000 worth of perfumes
By Alvina Soh | Posted: 06 November 2012 1724 hrs
SINGAPORE: A salesman who swindled more than $220,000 worth of perfumes to fund his gambling habit was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail on Tuesday.
Goh Chye Meng, 40, deceived two companies - Cuscaden Parfumerie and Beauty Trend - into delivering a total of 6,894 perfume bottles to him.
Goh then sold the bottles and gambled away the proceeds.
He was found guilty of five counts of cheating. Four other similar counts were taken into consideration.
Goh was a salesman with the two companies during the time of the offences which took place from May to July 2010.
He was entrusted to handle sales transactions and payment collection.
His ruse involved him placing orders for perfume bottles under the guise of another company - Beauty French Enterprises.
By doing so, he tricked Cuscaden Parfumerie and Beauty Trend into believing that Beauty French Enterprises had ordered the perfumes. Goh received the perfumes and sold them off to various shops at a lower price.
He then used the cash proceeds and gambled them away at casinos at the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.
When pressed for payment, Goh lied that Beauty French Enterprises' boss was overseas and unable to pay.
No restitution has been made, and none of the perfumes was recovered.
In mitigation, Goh's lawyer Sunil Sudheesan said that his client was remorseful. He also pointed out that the money Goh received from selling the perfumes was "significantly lower than the actual value of the perfumes."
The court heard that Goh has since addressed his gambling habits by applying for voluntary self-exclusion from casinos.
For cheating, Goh could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined for each charge.
- CNA/de
