SINGAPORE: A deputy constituency director at a community club (CC), with a penchant for gambling, pocketed more than S$12,000 (US$9,100) in ticket sales for a National Day dinner.
Lim Jia Sheng, 37, was sentenced to four months’ jail on Wednesday (Aug 14) for one count of criminal breach of trust.
He pleaded guilty to the charge, with another gambling-related charge taken into consideration.
The court heard that Lim began working as a constituency manager at Yew Tee CC in 2012 and was promoted to deputy constituency director in 2016.
His duties included meeting with the Resident’s Committee (RC) and grassroots leaders, as well as organising events and activities for the public.
In 2015, he began gambling online and became addicted. He deposited money into an account on a gambling website, placed sports-related bets and played casino games on the website.
Lim used his salary to gamble, but began incurring credit card debts and owing money to licensed moneylenders.
In June 2023, plans were laid for Yew Tee CC’s National Day Dinner at its multi-purpose hall and basketball court in August 2023.
Lim and his colleagues were in charge of the ticketed event, and were to sell the ticket booklets which contained 10 tickets each costing S$30.
Lim was to distribute the booklets to the RCs and neighbourhood committees for them to sell to residents.
The proceeds from the sales, along with ticket stubs, were to be handed back to Lim thereafter.
He was supposed to deposit the cash into Yew Tee CC’s bank account within seven working days.
While Lim was handling the sale of tickets, he realised there was a chance for him to misappropriate the cash to feed his gambling addiction.
He collected the cash from the ticket sales from the various committees and deposited the money into his own bank account.
He then used the money for gambling, continuing his crime streak until the National Day Dinner was over.
Lim then deposited about S$5,000 back into Yew Tee CC’s bank account, intending to return the remainder after receiving his bonus in December 2023.
However, he was unable to return the amount in time due to his personal debts.
On Dec 21, 2023, one of the grassroots leaders went to Lim’s office to confront him about the money he had taken.
Lim admitted to it and said he had “borrowed” the money to settle his gambling debts. The grassroots leader informed Lim’s superior, who confronted Lim and lodged a police report.
In total, Lim had pocketed S$12,210. His superior alerted the mayor to the incident and Lim was later given one week to return the full amount.
Lim did so in January, with the money banked into Yew Tee CC’s account. He resigned thereafter.
The prosecution sought at least four months’ jail for Lim, noting that the funds misappropriated were public funds.
“The degree of trust reposed in the accused is high, as he was tasked with the organisation of the dinner, and the fact that it was only found out a few months after the event was because the management trusted him and did not actively pursue him for the closure of the accounts,” said the prosecutor.
However, he noted that Lim had made full restitution even before being investigated by the police, with no loss to the People’s Association as a result.
For criminal breach of trust, he could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.
Source: CNA
