SINGAPORE — An office clerk who emptied her company’s bank account by embezzling more than S$600,000 was sentenced to five years’ jail on Wednesday (Dec 28).

Sim Siow Shi, a 30-year-old Malaysian, had been managing the accounts of Fu Yuan Construction for the past nine years. 

As her duties included issuing cheques for salary payment, she had access to cash cheques meant for paying suppliers and workers’ salaries.

“The accused was vested with a high degree of trust as she was the only person in charge of the company’s accounts. Moreover, she had sole oversight of the company’s bank account statements, which were in the usual course (of business) not checked by the company’s directors,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Stephanie Chew.

In June last year, Sim started to write her name, a sum of money or both on her company’s pre-signed cheques and cashed them at Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) branches at Jurong East, Dhoby Ghaut and Holland Village. 

Sim committed these offences on at least 63 occasions, pocketing amounts ranging from S$200 to S$31,500 each time. 

Although she started small by issuing only one cheque in June last year, her greed increased in subsequent months. In March this year, she issued 13 cheques amounting to over S$203,000 in one month. In total, Sim pocketed S$611,740.14 between June 2015 and September this year. 

Company director Linus Lee became suspicious after the cheques issued from the company’s bank account bounced. Upon inspection of the account on Oct 3, he realised that it had been cleaned out and filed a police report. To date, none of the money has been recovered.

Sim pleaded for leniency from the judge, claiming that she had been threatened by someone from her hometown in Malaysia. DPP Chew, however, described Sim’s claims as “bare assertions” since there was no proof of these threats.