Singapore—A former professor from the National University of Singapore (NUS), as well as another man, a former research fellow from the same university, have been charged with cheating and forgery.
This was announced on Thursday (Jan 28) in a statement from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), as quoted in the straitstimes.com on Thursday (Jan 28).
In two separate cases, the men have been charged with reportedly submitting false claims from NUS for over S$140,000.
The former professor, 53-year-old Tan Kok Kiong, has been charged with 32 counts of forgery and five counts of cheating.
Tan was once a faculty member at the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS).
As for the other man, 41-year-old Thomas Teh Kok Hiong, he is facing 22 counts of cheating and dishonestly inducing a delivery of money as well as five counts of forgery.
Teh is a former research fellow at the university’s Department of Biomedical Engineering.
For every cheating and forgery charge, an offender could be fined and sent to jail for 10 years.
The CPIB statement says that between 2012 and 2019, Tan reportedly submitted fraudulent claims that amounted to over S$100,000.
“He is alleged to have generated fictitious invoices for the purported purchase of products and services and submitted claims that were either inflated or for expenses that were unrelated to his research grant.
By doing so, he is alleged to have cheated NUS’ approving officers into disbursing those sums of money to him.”
And from 2010 to 2018, Teh submitted over S$41,000 in fraudulent claims to the university.
According to the CPIB, these claims include travel expenses and items that he said were for work-related use.
“In some instances, he allegedly altered receipts or invoices to support his fraudulent claims. By doing so, he is alleged to have cheated NUS’ approving officers,” the statement read.
The two cases will be heard in court again on Feb 25 for Teh and March 4 for Tan.
A spokesman for the university is quoted in ST as saying, “The two individuals are no longer employed by the university. We are unable to comment further as the case is now before the courts.”
CIPB said in its statement, “Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and other criminal activities such as cheating and forgery.”
/TISG
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