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Ex-HDB inspector who turned fugitive jailed 42 weeks for forgery

(PHOTO: Getty Images)
(PHOTO: Getty Images)

Having been on the run for 30 years, a former Housing Development Board (HDB) employee was jailed 42 weeks on Tuesday (13 June) for cheating charges after he was apprehended in May this year.

In 1987, Hew Chong Wai, a Malaysian, had forged 128 works orders in order to cheat HDB into giving him reimbursements. The former HDB housing and maintenance inspector resigned from HDB in March 1987 and fled from Singapore while he was being investigated for his offences.

The 53-year-old was nabbed by the Royal Malaysian Police on 5 May and repatriated to Singapore, where he was slapped with 128 counts of forgery for the purpose of cheating.

The prosecution proceeded on 18 counts of forgery, while the rest were taken into consideration for sentencing. Deputy Public Prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswani said that in 1987, Hew had “hatched a plan to obtain money through fraudulent means by forging works order documents in order to deceive HDB that these works had been completed.”

Between February and March 1987, Hew had colluded with an accomplice, Tan Kiam Hock, a subcontractor who submitted the forged works orders to Yaw Eng Construction. The company would forward the works orders to the main contractor Leong Hup Lee, which would bill HDB accordingly. Upon receiving the money, Tan would give a cut of it to Hew.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) first received information that Hew had issued 12 works orders carrying the purported signatures of a Senior Estates officer and a Senior Housing and Maintenance inspector on 16 March 1987. Investigations revealed that the signatures were forged and that the works stated in the documents were not performed.

Further investigations revealed the same fraud with the other works orders. Hew was paid $22,959.50 out of the total sum of $53,602.48, which was due to Tan for all 128 work orders. Adjusted for inflation, the amount Hew received had a recent value of $38,908.79.

Hew’s Malaysia Restricted Passport was seized during the course of investigations in 1987. Knowing that he was likely to be charged, however, Hew absconded from Singapore before he could be brought to court.

Said DPP Vaswani, “[Hew] admits that he knew he was wanted by the CPIB and that his passport had been seized from him to prevent him from leaving Singapore, but he did so anyway.”

Tan, who pleaded guilty on 20 March 1988, was sentenced to four months’ jail under the older version of the Penal Code. Similar to Hew, Tan pleaded guilty to 18 counts of forgery while 110 charges were taken into consideration for his sentence. Tan could have been jailed up to seven years based on the penal code back then.

The relevant section of the Penal Code for forgery was last amended in 2008. Based on the current Penal Code, Hew could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

The prosecution, which sought at least 10 months’ jail based on current sentencing norms, said that Hew lost his right to be sentenced according to old sentencing norms since he was on the run for 30 years. DPP Vaswani argued that the sentence should serve as a deterrent to others who think that they can get away with a lesser sentence based on old sentencing norms even if they get sentenced later.

When asked if he had anything to say in mitigation, Hew, who was unrepresented, asked for leniency, only to be rebuked by District Judge Kenneth Yap. Said the DJ, “You didn’t face the music for 30 years, and now you’re asking for leniency?”

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