3 men and 2 women, believed to be members of a criminal syndicate, were charged in court after they scammed government training grants scheme, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), of a whopping $40 million through fraudulent claims.
According to a SkillsFuture press statement released today, the suspects have been “charged with a series of offences. These include engaging in a conspiracy to submit forged documents to fraudulently obtain training subsidies from SSG, and to conceal the benefits from such criminal conduct.”
SkillsFuture also revealed that the suspects reportedly belong to “an organised network that utilised nine business entities, comprising employer companies and training providers, to submit the fraudulent claims. Close to $40 million has been paid out as a result. Police has seized substantial cash and frozen a number of bank accounts involved in the case.”
The government organisation only detected the offences in October. It disclosed:
“At the end of October 2017, SSG detected anomalies in claims for training grants. It immediately suspended all payments of grants to these nine business entities and reported the case to the Police.
“SSG has also taken immediate actions to tighten its processes, which include implementing fraud analytics, while conducting a comprehensive review of the system.
SSG takes a serious view of any individual, training provider or organisation that abuses its funding schemes, and will not hesitate to take action against those who contravene its funding rules and guidelines.”
Police investigations are ongoing.