37-year-old Ng Yong Sheng was fined $6,000 on 22 November for one count of criminal breach of trust, with another charge of forgery being considered for his sentencing.

Ng, a director at an employment and student recruitment agency, pleaded guilty to misappropriating $4,400 that was paid to him by a Malaysian woman, meant for her work pass application, according to The Straits Times.

The victim, a 28-year-old Malaysian woman, didn’t know that Ng had taken the money and kept it for himself.

She had engaged Ng’s company, Empire Global Recruitment in 2017 to help her get a work pass here in Singapore.

Ng’s job scope includes helping his clients apply for a work pass and collecting payment for his services.

After he had applied for the victim’s work pass successfully, the victim paid him $4,400 over 4 instalments that were paid between May to August 2017, and Ng kept the money for himself.

Ng created four fake invoices to hide his crimes and sent them to the victim.

he later left the company in July 2018 and sold his shares in the company.

His crimes were later revealed in August 2018 after an audit was conducted by the firm, and the chief executive of the company then filed a police report on 9 January 2019.

A father-daughter pair from Taiwan; 87-year-old Richard Chen and 57-year-old Voni Chen, were on the run from the United States authorities for more than 20 years after being convicted of mail fraud in 2001.

They were found and arrested in Singapore on 29 July after entering the country on 25 July, according to The Straits Times.

Background

The Chens were convicted in 2001 of mail fraud after using false invoices to get a loan of USD$5 million from a credit company.

The duo managed the Golden Pacific Manufacturing Corporation, which manufactures and sells plastic bags, with VOni as the president and Richard as the principal.

However, they soon experienced cashflow problems and plotted a scene to defraud a credit company by sending invoices with false orders.

They asked other companies to act as their customers, even though those companies had no business with their company.

They then asked their existing customers to represent that they had bought more goods from them than their actual orders, as well as creating shell companies to pose as their customers.

They then managed to get a loan based on the falsified invoices.

The father and daughter were then charged with mail fraud in October 2001, which they pleaded guilty to, but they failed to appear for their sentencing hearing in May 2002 and an arrest warrant was then issued.

Sent back to the US

The Chens were arrested in Singapore on a US provisional arrest request, and the Singapore minister of law has ordered for both of them to be extradited back to the US.

Voni was sent back to the US on 17 November and was in an Oakland federal court on 18 November.

Her father is currently awaiting transportation, which the Singapore police is assisting with.

The US Attorney’s Office said: “The US Justice Department, including the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, thanks the Singapore Police Force and Attorney-General’s Chambers for its cooperation with the United States.”

6 Australian schoolgirls, who were in Singapore for a netball competition, were previously arrested on 16 November for allegedly shoplifting and stealing lingerie from a Victoria’s Secret store, as well as stealing a pair of Crocs footwear.

The six girls, aged between 14 to 16, have since returned home. according to The Straits Times.

ST reported that three of the girls were given a 12-month conditional warning by the Singapore police, while the other three received a “stern warning”.

Media reports coming out of Australia, identified the girls as Year 10 students from Bacchus Marsh Grammar, a private school in the state of Victoria, north of Melbourne.

The school’s principal, Andrew Neal, was quoted by the media as saying the girls had returned home after leaving Singapore last Saturday, and that the matter had been “resolved”.

He said that “everyone is here and they all came in on the same flight… All matters have been resolved and the girls were allowed to proceed to the airport with no further action.”

Macchus Marsh had 18 of their students in Singapore to compete in a regional netball competition at the time.

Neal added that he appreciates the Singapore police’s professionalism, and described them as being “firm, fair and thorough” in dealing with the alleged shoplifting.