| |
The
Straits Times, 3 Apr 04
Brewery man gets 42 years
By Selina Lum
Chalked up gambling losses of $62m after he swindled banks of $117m
HE STARTED with wagers of $200. Before long, Asia Pacific Breweries
finance manager Chia Teck Leng was punting A$400,000 ($512,000) at
a go.
Chia's jail term is longest for a commercial crime. By the time the
law found out he had obtained the cash to bet by cheating banks here,
he had blown $62 million in casinos around the world. In all, he swindled
them out of $117 million over four years in Singapore's largest case
of commercial fraud.
Yesterday, High Court Judge Tay Yong Kwang sent him to jail for 42
years, the longest jail term ever meted out for a commercial crime.
The dubious honour was previously held by Singapore Airlines employee
Teo Cheng Kiat, who embezzled $35 million from the airline over 13
years. He was jailed for 24 years, coincidentally by the same judge.
Chia was convicted after he pleaded guilty to six charges of forgery
and eight charges of cheating yesterday. Another 32 charges were considered
during sentencing. Between January 1999 and March last year, he faked
documents to get four foreign banks to extend him credit. He claimed
he was acting for his company, Asia Pacific Breweries, but was the
only one doing the signing. He forged the signatures of APB directors
by getting specimens from annual reports and internal documents. Chia
channelled the money he swindled into his personal account at DBS
Bank and then remitted it to casinos in Australia, Britain, Hong Kong,
Malaysia, Cambodia and the Philippines to finance his gambling addiction.
The high-roller was so well-known in gambling circles, casino operators
personally invited him to try his luck in their betting halls and
ferried him there in private jets. He also bought a $150,000 Mercedes-Benz,
a $530,000 apartment, and gave gifts totalling more than $300,000
to various people, including his girlfriend, Chinese national Li Jin,
22. She is now in jail for using a forged passport.
Chia was arrested on Sept 2 last year.Only $34.8 million has been
recovered. Yesterday, his wife and two teenage sons were not in court,
which was filled mainly with journalists and lawyers holding a watching
brief for the four banks - who have filed suits against his company
- and other parties.
That the scheme went undetected for more than four years 'must surely
attest to the correctness of the prosecution's assertion that this
was the work of a criminal genius,' said Justice Tay. He dismissed
Chia's mitigation plea that the banks had approached him, offering
to lend him cash; that they had been too naive, trusting and even
negligent, making it 'too easy' for the APB manager to commit the
crimes. 'Bankers knocking on his door were there to meet the man...
to forge a business relationship, but the man they met was unfortunately
in the business of forgery,' said the judge.
Reiterating a point he made when sentencing SIA's Teo - burglars should
not blame owners for leaving their gates open or using inferior locks
- he said forgers and fraudsters should not be decrying trusting and
gullible victims. 'Crimes such as the present case...erode the open
halls of trust and erect the high walls of suspicion.' |
|
