<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Fined $30k over forged bank reference letters
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A FORMER relationship manager handed over signed blank letterheads belonging to his bank to a friend to help her forge fictitious bank reference letters for her prospective clients, a court heard.
Allen Francis Jordan, 32 - then with MeesPierson Asia, now called Fortis Bank - admitted to three out of 12 charges of helping American Express Bank (AEB) relationship manager Ho Nyat Yeing fraudulently use forged MeesPierson reference letters showing that her clients had accounts with the private bank.
Ho, 51, has been charged with 79 counts of forgery. The matter is pending.
Yesterday, Jordan, who has since joined another bank as an assistant vice-president, was fined a total of $30,000.
AEB lodged a police report in May last year alleging that numerous bank reference letters submitted by Ho did not appear to be authentic.
AEB had required such letters to be submitted for new private banking accounts. Such letters, issued by banks with which the prospective clients had maintained a relationship, would detail the length of the relationship and whether their accounts had been satisfactory.
In August 2005, Ho told Jordan of her difficulty in getting bank reference letters.
Jordan then agreed to give her MeesPierson letterheads signed by him.
Pleading for a fine, lawyer S.S. Dhillon said the father of one had not benefited from the plan.
Jordan could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined on each charge. ELENA CHONG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A FORMER relationship manager handed over signed blank letterheads belonging to his bank to a friend to help her forge fictitious bank reference letters for her prospective clients, a court heard.
Allen Francis Jordan, 32 - then with MeesPierson Asia, now called Fortis Bank - admitted to three out of 12 charges of helping American Express Bank (AEB) relationship manager Ho Nyat Yeing fraudulently use forged MeesPierson reference letters showing that her clients had accounts with the private bank.
Ho, 51, has been charged with 79 counts of forgery. The matter is pending.
Yesterday, Jordan, who has since joined another bank as an assistant vice-president, was fined a total of $30,000.
AEB lodged a police report in May last year alleging that numerous bank reference letters submitted by Ho did not appear to be authentic.
AEB had required such letters to be submitted for new private banking accounts. Such letters, issued by banks with which the prospective clients had maintained a relationship, would detail the length of the relationship and whether their accounts had been satisfactory.
In August 2005, Ho told Jordan of her difficulty in getting bank reference letters.
Jordan then agreed to give her MeesPierson letterheads signed by him.
Pleading for a fine, lawyer S.S. Dhillon said the father of one had not benefited from the plan.
Jordan could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined on each charge. ELENA CHONG