Mr. Chew Swee Siong, 31, a former employee of Kenwood Property Consultants, has pleaded guilty to forging signatures to draw over S$500,000 from the bank accounts of a condo management committee.
He pleaded guilty to 28 charges, while another 158 were taken into consideration.
He committed the offences between 18 November 2006 and 10 July 2007.
However, in total, Mr. Chew told police that he drained off around S$1.5 million from the condo over 18 months.
Mr. Chew was then assigned to manage West Bay Condo’s affairs.
He had forged the signatures of two people – Yeoh Kiat Boon and Baey Yam Chye, who were both part of the Management Corporation Strata Title of West Bay Condominium, and are the authorized signatories of a bank account with Citibank and another with OCBC.
Mr. Chew collected the money to use for his own.
The court heard that he surrendered to the authorities on 14 December 2007.
In his mitigation, medical reports were cited by his lawyer, Mr. Gregory Vijayendran, stating that his client is suffering from pathological gambling, a mental disorder.
Mr. Chew has a “total loss of self control when it comes to gambling activities,” Mr. Vijayendran told District Judge Liew Thiam Leng.
The lawyer asked for a lighter sentence, as his client had voluntarily surrendered to the authorities and cooperated with them.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Kalidass Murugaiyan requested for an adjournment to study the written mitigation.