Youth jailed for cheating NTUC Fairprice
POSTED: 20 Jun 2013 8:12 PM
An NTUC FairPrice outlet
SINGAPORE: A youth who colluded with his friend to buy S$500,000 worth of NTUC Fairprice vouchers with a dishonoured cheque was sentenced to 30 weeks' jail on Thursday.
Twenty-year-old Hakim Leong admitted in February to cheating NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd of S$500,000 worth of vouchers in November 2011.
Leong, who was a student at the time of the offence, opened a 'company account' with S$500 and was issued a cheque book.
He then pretended to set up a company called "Miraclevents" and asked Modetti Office Services in early November 2011 to help incorporate his firm.
In doing so, he cheated Modetti into providing office services valued at S$697.
Leong then approached NTUC Fairprice in mid-November 2011 to purchase its vouchers.
Together with his friend, 24-year-old Tan Tuan Lue, the pair issued NTUC Fairprice a cheque knowing they would not be able to pay the S$500,000.
The pair went on to purchase liquor and cigarettes, among other things, and resold some items for cash.
Leong also went online to exchange S$1,000 worth of NTUC vouchers for CapitaMalls vouchers of the same value.
For this, the student was charged under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Offences Act.
Six other charges were also taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.
In his grounds for decision, District Judge Soh Tze Bian said Leong was unsuitable for probation as he was the instigator of the offences.
The judge noted that Leong was motivated by "the prospect of quick and huge monetary gains".
However he agreed with defence lawyer Lee Teck Leng's arguments, which pointed out that Leong and Tan were not part of a crime syndicate, that the scam was not sophisticated, and that the payment for goods involved "a good fashion cheque that eventually bounced".
Judge Soh noted that NTUC discovered the deception within 24 hours and that the actual loss was S$8,300, which he said "was relatively not large".
The judge however also agreed with the prosecution that a short custodial sentence is warranted for the cheating offences, adding that the accused's scam was widely reported and that consumer confidence in the integrity of NTUC's vouchers was detrimentally affected.
The degree of planning involved was also factored in during sentencing.
Leong is the first of the two to be dealt with.
- CNA/jc
