SINGAPORE: When his Vietnamese girlfriend needed an air ticket to return home during the pandemic, a food court manager waited for financial assistance he thought he was entitled to in order to help her pay for it.
After discovering that he was not eligible for the cash, he began stealing money from the food court’s daily sales proceeds, before turning to gambling in the hopes of returning the money.
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Lee Chun Beng, 52, was jailed for two years and three months on Thursday (Mar 25) after pleading guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust by an employee.
The court heard that Lee started work at SG Eat Food Court in the 100AM mall at Tras Street on Apr 4 last year.
He was entrusted with managing the operations of the food court, including collecting the daily sales proceeds and managing the cash float.
He began taking sums of money from the company from Nov 13, 2020 to Nov 18, 2020, totalling S$37,151.80.
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On Nov 19, 2020, Lee texted his boss to tell him he was on medical leave. A day later, Lee resigned and became uncontactable.
The company director checked the safe and found a handwritten note by Lee. In the signed note, Lee wrote that he had taken and used the sales proceeds. A police report was lodged.
Lee turned himself in at a police station on Jan 11, 2021 and admitted that he had stolen the cash.
The prosecutor called for at least 30 months’ jail, saying that Lee had previous convictions in 1996, 2000 and 2013 for offences such as cheating and criminal breach of trust.
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ACCUSED ASKS FOR CHANCE
Lee, who had no lawyer and was in remand, said he was deeply remorseful for his mistake. He said he had admitted what he did to his boss and turned himself in, and wished for “a last chance in my life”.
He said he took the money to buy an air ticket for his girlfriend, who had been told to return to Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He thought he was eligible for S$3,000 in financial aid from the Ministry of Social and Family Development. When he found out that was not the case, he decided to take the money from the food court first, with plans to return it later.
After taking the cash, he was unable to return it and began gambling to try to win the money back to replace it, said Lee.
“Once I realised I cannot do that anymore, I told my boss about the situation,” he said. “I’m very sorry for my mistake … Without this pandemic, my girlfriend also (won’t) need to go back to Vietnam. Unfortunately there’s no excuse for the mistake I’ve done, I will bear the consequences.”
The judge told Lee that his prior record of dishonesty was a significant aggravating factor and that he had not been deterred by the previous jail terms he received.
However, as he had pleaded guilty, left a note for his boss, turned himself in and cooperated in investigations, she said she would calibrate his sentence slightly downwards from what the prosecutor asked for.
For criminal breach of trust by an employee, he could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
