Two female former staff members of the Singapore Statutory Boards Employees’ Co-operative Thrift and Loan Society have been charged today (21 Dec) with hundreds of charges of fraud and other offences totaling $5.1 million. Arni Ahmad, 41, former assistant manager of the co-operative was charged with 467 counts, while the former administrative executive Hanati Jani, 49, was charged with 275 charges.
The co-operative is regulated by the Cooperative Societies Act under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. The deputy public prosecutor described the crime as a case of massive public institutional fraud. The duo are charged for cheating, criminal breach of trust and receiving the benefits of criminal conduct.
The women were suspended from work in 2014. It is unclear why they are only charged now – two years after the offence came to light.
Prosecutors said Arni and Hanati fooled the co-operative into disbursing $5,069,147.63 from 2008 to 2013 using fake applications lodged by phantom members. They allegedly laundered the money through a network of phantom members before the money eventually found its way into their pockets.