Singapore—Sixty-five-year-old Ling Shek Lun, who used to be a vice-president at UOB, has been charged with mishandling millions of dollars, reported straitstimes.com (ST) on Friday (Feb 19).
Ling, a Singaporean who was charged in district court on Feb 10, faces two charges of cheating, 11 counts of criminal breach of trust, 28 counts of forgery for the purpose of cheating, 54 counts of forgery and 47 counts of dealing the benefits of his alleged criminal activities. He allegedly committed these offences between 2003 and 2015.
He is said to have misappropriated nearly £2.9 million (S$5.4 million) and US$14,010 (S$18,600) between 2004 and 2014.
He reportedly transferred over £1.8 million (S$3.34 million) of the money to a person named Yong Ai Khim.
From 2005 to 2015, the former UOB VP is said to have falsified papers that included several fixed deposit account statements, in order to cheat a man named Kevin William Braddick, who was led to believe his money was put into a “special nominee account” with the bank.
The total amount handed over by Braddick is unknown.
In separate instances, Ling also created other false papers between 2008 and 2015, including fixed deposit account statements that he said had been issued by UOB.
He will be back in court for a pre-trial conference on March 11, with his bail set at S$150,000.
The bank is said to not only have dismissed Ling but also filed a police report against him.
“At UOB, we have zero tolerance for any behaviour that violates our code of conduct predicated by a groupwide culture committed to acting with honour in all that we do,” a spokesman for the bank is quoted in ST as saying.
Ling could be jailed for as long as 10 years and fined for every count of forgery for the purpose of cheating.
For criminal breach of trust, he could be jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
/TISG
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