Accountant Lim Seow Kok was jailed for 5 1/2 years for embezzlement of over $500,000. He admitted to 74 counts of forgery and criminal breach of trust.
He worked at 11 different organisations (including charities such as Hougang Care Centre) between 2007 and 2009. His method was to join the company for a while, forge cheques to withdraw his employer's monies and then to disappear.
It is unclear whether or not any employer could have stopped him before he took their money. Human Resources departments should, before hiring someone, check his employment history. If the person claims to have had no employment, perhaps a check of his CPF statements will confirm this. To preserve the employee's privacy, the non-essential parts of the statement can be covered up before the statement is shown to the company.
Organisations should also take good care of their cheque books. Although it could be argued that forged cheques are invalid and the banks should bear the loss, avoiding the costs and uncertainty of legal disputes is far preferable.
He worked at 11 different organisations (including charities such as Hougang Care Centre) between 2007 and 2009. His method was to join the company for a while, forge cheques to withdraw his employer's monies and then to disappear.
It is unclear whether or not any employer could have stopped him before he took their money. Human Resources departments should, before hiring someone, check his employment history. If the person claims to have had no employment, perhaps a check of his CPF statements will confirm this. To preserve the employee's privacy, the non-essential parts of the statement can be covered up before the statement is shown to the company.
Organisations should also take good care of their cheque books. Although it could be argued that forged cheques are invalid and the banks should bear the loss, avoiding the costs and uncertainty of legal disputes is far preferable.
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