Jail for SG man, 31, and his mum, 61, who misappropriated S$1.26 million from company of man with cognitive deficits

SINGAPORE: A man and his mother, who misappropriated S$1.26 million from the bank account of a company where the man was a shareholder, were recently handed jail sentences for their offences.

Thirty-one-year-old Ezekiel Loy Wei has been slapped with a jail sentence of eight years and four months, while his mother, Gian Juat Ngim, 61, will serve two years and six months in jail.

After a loan was granted to Yip Holdings (YHPL), where Loy had been a shareholder and director, he misappropriated some of the funds for his own use. Later, he transferred the amount of S$850,000 from his account to his mum’s. From this, Gian took S$400,000 and moved it to a second account belonging to Loy.

According to a Mothership report, Gian had reason to believe her son engaged in illegal activities and allowed him to use her account anyway.

The case made the news, especially after Loy pulled out his report card from his primary days at Anglo-Chinese School and read from it. His antics and lack of remorse, however, worked against him when it came to his sentencing.

How Loy pulled it off

Around a decade ago, Loy met Ronald Yip, 76, who was then the company’s sole director and shareholder. In September 2016, however, Mr Yip was diagnosed with post-ICU delirium, which meant he had “significant deficits in orientation and short-term memory recall.”

In the following year, Yip was also diagnosed with mild dementia, which a few years later developed into a moderate case.

By this time, Loy had been made a shareholder and director of YHPL, and Mothership added that 52.5% of the company’s shares were transferred from Yip to Loy in September 2016.

In the following month, the company entered a S$4 million loan agreement with ETHOZ, a financing solutions firm, and by November, S$1,268,500 was credited to the account of YHPL. Shortly afterwards, Loy moved the money to his personal bank accounts and also to his mother’s account.

Mr Yip, meanwhile, may not have fully understood the loan agreement, based on testimony from a doctor.

With the money Loy pilfered, he bought a Rolex watch, a Mercedes-Benz sports car, and a property in Lucky Plaza. His misdeeds were discovered in early 2017 after Yip, panicking, needed help in recovering the pilfered amount.

Loy’s antics in court

Not only was Loy remorseless, but he also brought up irrelevant matters during proceedings, including presenting his primary school report card as proof he was not a “fraudster.”

His mother, meanwhile, was a hostile witness who would not answer questions.

Loy faced 35 charges in all, while Gian faced one. /TISG

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