SINGAPORE: A risk and controls officer with an insurance firm, who earned more than S$11,000 a month used its corporate credit card to make 27 unauthorised transactions involving S$29,674 in total.
Raul Randhawa, a 44-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust and was sentenced to four months’ jail on Wednesday (Oct 30).
He has since made full restitution.
Raul was working for AIG Apac when he signed a form stating that he should use the Citibank card only for company-related business.
The form also stated that should he use the card to pay for his personal expenses, he must settle the payments directly with Citibank within seven days and notify AIG Apac.
Despite this, he later stated that he had never been issued a corporate credit card.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lee told the court: “The accused stated that he owed some friends money as he had been spending more than what he had been earning.
“This was since he had been flying to Jakarta from July 2023 to October 2023 to party with his friends.”
According to court documents, Raul started working as a risk and controls officer with the firm in August 2020, and his roles included implementing information technology policies.
He was entrusted with the card, which had a $30,000 credit limit.
On Oct 25, 2023, Raul tendered his resignation, which was accepted five days later. He was then told to return all company property.
The prosecutor said: "The accused indicated in his exit clearance form that he had never been issued with a corporate credit card. When questioned, the accused reiterated that he had never been issued with (such a) card."
Raul acknowledged that he had been issued the credit card only after he was shown documents from the firm’s human resource department about the matter.
He then stated that he would return the card on Nov 6, 2023. The company cancelled it on Nov 3, 2023.
But four days later, the firm found out that the card had been used to make 27 unauthorised transactions involving the $29,674.
Citibank told AIG Apac that Raul had approved the transactions himself, and that these were reflected in the SMSes sent to his mobile device.
He was no longer an AIG Apac employee by Nov 7, 2023, when he tried to apply to increase the card’s credit limit to $50,000.
The request was not approved as AIG Apac had earlier cancelled the card.
Raul also made changes to the card’s mailing address – from AIG Apac’s location to his home – even though he was not authorised to do so.
His bail was set at $10,000 on Oct 30, and is expected to begin serving his sentence on Nov 13. - The Straits Times/ANN
