Employee used position to transfer money to personal bank accounts
A payroll master at a human resource firm in Singapore has been sentenced to over two years in jail for misappropriating nearly $120,000 of her employer's funds, according to reports.
Amanda Yao pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust and was sentenced to two years and six months of jail time, The Straits Times reported.
According to the report, Yao used her position as payroll master to transfer money to her and her friend's bank account without permission from her employer.
To do this, she changed the receiving bank accounts of former employees in the company's payroll system to her own bank accounts or her friend's.
She would then transfer money disguised as salary payments to these former employees, who were no longer entitled to such payments as they were no longer with the organisation at that time, Channel News Asia reported.
Yao's friend, who had no idea about her illicit transactions, would then transfer the full amount to Yao.
Overall, Yao illegally obtained more than $119,000 after making 21 bank transfers between August 2022 and March 2023, according to reports.
The Straits Times reported that the court did not disclose how the matter was raised but noted that a director at the firm filed a police report in 2023 regarding the embezzled money.
She has since paid partial restitution of $20,000 to the company. She was also ordered to pay another $5,000 in cash bail.
Yao was previously known as Yeow Shi Qi before she legally changed her name, according to the reports.
Prior to her latest offence, she was also sentenced in jail twice in 2015 and 2020 for multiple counts of cheating and a theft charge, respectively.
