SINGAPORE: Three former insurance agents and a former United Overseas Bank (UOB) employee have been issued prohibition orders for fraudulent and dishonest conduct, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a news release on Friday (Oct 11).
They have all been convicted for offences such as criminal breach of trust, cheating and forgery.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAmong the four, Edwin Teh Chin Hong who was from the Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited was handed the longest prohibition order of nine years.
He had misappropriated and cheated about S$350,000 from seven clients over a period of three years, on the pretext of helping them to invest their money or pay for their insurance premiums.
For the offences, he was convicted in March 2018 and sentenced to two years and 10 months' jail.
Another former Great Eastern representative, Joseph Michael, was handed a prohibition order of five years.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHe had misappropriated about S$15,000 from a client who thought that the money would be used to pay for insurance premiums. Michael was convicted in August 2016 and sentenced to 10 weeks’ imprisonment.
The other former insurance agent, Aloysius Zephaniah Lim Bing Hong from Prudential, received a five-year prohibition order.
He had cheated a client of close to S$10,000 by misleading the client to transfer money to him for insurance policies that had already lapsed.
"Even after Mr Lim had left Prudential, he continued to falsely hold himself out as a representative for nearly two more years, during which time he continued to deceive the client into transferring money to him," said MAS.
He was convicted in March 2018 and sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail.
[h=3]READ: MAS bans 2 former brokerage employees, an insurance agent for dishonest conduct[/h]Former UOB employee Ng Wei Ling was banned by MAS for eight years.
She had cheated seven clients of S$215,000 over 18 months. This was on the pretext of helping them invest in a fixed deposit promotion that the bank was offering, or to buy an insurance policy.
"She instructed them to pass her cash or transfer funds to a bank account which she claimed was used for the fixed deposit promotion," said MAS. "In fact, the funds were transferred into Ms Ng’s
personal bank account."
She had also forged the signatures of two clients on insurance application forms, MAS added.
Ng was sentenced to one year and eight months' jail in April.
“Those who provide financial services to the public must be trustworthy. The four individuals convicted abused the trust that their customers placed in them, and enriched themselves at their customers’ expense," said Ms Loo Siew Yee, assistant managing director (Policy, Payments & Financial Crime) at MAS.
“MAS will not tolerate such behaviour and will take decisive action to keep such individuals out of the industry."
Let's block ads! (Why?)
More...