SINGAPORE: An accountant with access to his company's cheque books and bank accounts embezzled almost S$4 million from the firm over about four years, remitting most of the money back home to the Philippines.
He had access to the company's cheque books for the two bank accounts QlikTech owns in Singapore, and was authorised to sign singly on company cheques for payments of up to S$10,000. He has not made any restitution to QlikTech to date, said the prosecutor, but the company managed to claim about S$3.9 million from its insurer as part of its fraud insurance.The prosecution on Tuesday urged the court to sentence Salamanes to at least 11 years' jail, saying that sentences for large amounts of misappropriation should be severe.
"Almost all the money misappropriated was for the accused's own use or for his immediate family and boyfriend," said the prosecutor. With the money he embezzled, he bought condominium units in the Philippines, invested in a multi-level marketing scheme that turned out to be a fraud, made stock investments and paid off his credit card bills in the United Arab Emirates.
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