SINGAPORE: An employee at Hougang United Football Club was sentenced to two years' jail on Tuesday (Jul 30) for embezzling S$278,200 from the club in under two weeks.
Malaysian national Tean Tai Tee, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust by dishonest appropriation.
AdvertisementAdvertisementShe had taken the cash between Nov 29 and Dec 11 last year from the safe boxes at the club's office and clubhouse, where she worked as an account and administrative assistant. Hougang United's clubhouse was at Hougang Stadium.
Tean was in charge of accounting for the money kept in the club's safes and also issued cash floats for the jackpot machines at the club.
She had access to keys for both safes, which contained the football club's sales revenue and earnings before they were deposited in the bank, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Yanying.
The court heard that Tean had taken the money in order to pay a man known only as "Steven" in hopes of resolving a police case she became embroiled in.
AdvertisementAdvertisementTROUBLES BEGAN WITH A FRIEND REQUEST ON FACEBOOK
It began with a Facebook friend request Tean received in October 2018 from a "Lily Tan", which she accepted.
Tan offered a part-time job to Tean, with 5 per cent commission per transaction if she allowed her bank account to be used for transactions.
Tean agreed and was introduced to Tan's colleague "Steven". She gave both of them details of her POSB and DBS bank accounts.
Within a week of accepting the "job", Tean began receiving money in her bank accounts and transferred them to "Steven".
About a month after this, Tean's accounts were frozen by the police, and she found out that police were investigating the transactions.
Before heading down to the police station to assist in investigations, Tean told Steven about what had happened.
Steven told her to tell the police that she had taken loans from an unlicensed moneylender, or a loan shark, and that she had allowed the loan shark to use her accounts in lieu of her loan repayments.
Tean did as she was told and was arrested after relating this false account to the police on Nov 26.
After being released on police bail, she contacted Steven again, and he told her that he could help resolve the matter and retrieve her passport for a fee that he haggled to S$30,000 from S$100,000.
Tean decided to take money from the football club. She waited for the club accountant to take a smoke break on Nov 29 last year before taking S$2,000 to S$3,000 from the office safe.
TOOK MONEY ALMOST DAILY
When she was not caught, Tean grew bolder and continued taking cash from the safe almost daily when no one else was around, increasing the amounts she stole.
She began taking money from the other safe in the clubhouse on Dec 8. In total, she stole S$145,200 from the office safe and S$133,000 from the clubhouse safe.
She deposited the money into bank accounts provided by Steven and disposed of the transfer slips to avoid detection.
However, her crimes were discovered by the accountant, 28-year-old Malaysian Yap Mei Jan, on Dec 15.
A cashier at the jackpot room told Ms Yap that Tean would be returning to the clubhouse the next day to issue the cash float for the jackpot machines.
Ms Yap grew suspicious, as this was not in line with the club's usual accounting practices to prepare two days of floats for weekends in advance.
She asked Tean to head down to the clubhouse, where she asked for the key to the safe and checked its contents.
Ms Yap found a shortage of about S$100,000 from Tean's last reported amount on Dec 14 of about S$211,000.
Tean admitted to taking the money "to pay someone", the court heard. The accountant then checked the other safe in the office and found only S$4,800 inside, when it was meant to contain S$150,000.
Tean again admitted to pocketing the cash, and the accountant informed the football club's general manager, who called the police. She has not made any restitution to the club.
For criminal breach of trust as a servant, she could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
When contacted by CNA, the club said it had no comments.
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