Local employees charged with fraud

In separate incidents, two local employees have been charged with forgery and theft after allegedly pocketing thousands of dollars from former employers.

Muhammed Syahmi has been sentenced to six months jail after being found guilty of forging his supervisor’s signature on timesheets, despite having been dismissed by StarHub in June 2011, The Straits Times reported.

Syahmi had claimed $18,800 in wages after submitting 16 timesheets to his recruitment agency, Recruit Express, over seven months. However, the agency started investigating after a staff member noticed he had filled a timesheet for Jan 23 last year – when the store was closed for Chinese New Year.

In another case of fraud, a chief cashier at Standard Chartered has been charged with stealing $500,000 from the bank’s Serangoon Garden Way branch. Police have recovered $1,000 in cash and gambling chips worth $4,905 from Koh Mui Hoong’s possessions, The Straits Times reported.

Koh has been arrested and is being held at Ang Mo Kio police division for further investigation.

A released statement from Standard Chartered aimed to “reassure customers that our first priority is always to protect customers' interests and their funds remain safe with us".

“Any misconduct and non-compliance with these processes and procedures will be dealt with very seriously,” the statement read.