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SINGAPORE – Two senior executives of a firm\u00a0allegedly worked together to dupe the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and Singapore Business Federation (SBF) into disbursing monies totalling more than $98,000.<\/p>\n
At the time of their alleged offences, Ronald Quek Yi Jun was the chief executive of information technology consultancy RH Kingsmen, while Ong Hanjie was a director there.<\/p>\n
Police said in a statement on March 24 that both Singaporeans are no longer holding such posts with the company.<\/p>\n
On March 25, Quek, 43, and Ong, 44, were charged with multiple counts of cheating. Ong was also charged with one count of falsification of accounts.<\/p>\n
Each man faces two cheating charges linked to IRAS. The charges allegedly involved the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) scheme which IRAS had administered.<\/p>\n
In their statement, the police said the initiative was introduced to help employers create long-term jobs for locals by offering up to 50 per cent wage support for hiring mature workers for up to 18 months. <\/p>\n
The JGI payouts were computed monthly based on Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions.<\/p>\n
According to the police, RH Kingsmen allegedly made CPF contributions for four purported hires between March 2021 and June 2022. <\/p>\n
IRAS is then said to have disbursed more than $78,000 in payouts to the firm as a result.<\/p>\n
A police spokesperson added: \u201cFurther… investigations revealed that these four purported workers did not perform any work for the company nor did they receive salaries based on the mandatory CPF contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Separately, Quek and Ong face four cheating charges each after they allegedly worked together to cheat SBF.<\/p>\n
These alleged offences were linked to the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme \u2013 Company Attachments (SGUP-CA).<\/p>\n
The initiative was administered by SBF, a programme partner appointed by statutory board Workforce Singapore.<\/p>\n
The police said the SGUP-CA was introduced as a full-time attachment programme for mid-career individuals.<\/p>\n
It offered attachments of up to six months to help them acquire industry-relevant experience at host organisations. <\/p>\n
These organisations then received funding for the training allowances provided to these individuals.<\/p>\n
A police spokesperson said: \u201c(The two men) allegedly conspired to submit fraudulent claims to SBF, falsely representing that RH Kingsmen had onboarded three individuals for the SGUP-CA and had paid them the approved training allowances between July and October 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ong is also accused of falsifying payslips between July and December 2021 to support the claims. <\/p>\n
SBF then allegedly disbursed more than $20,000 in grants to the company, said the police.<\/p>\n
The cases involving Ong and Quek have been adjourned to April 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n