A former loan officer from OCBC Bank was charged in court on Thursday with conspiring with property agents to
deceive the bank into giving housing loans worth more than S$61
million.
Winnie Goh Li Ching, 33, faced 189 counts of deceiving the bank
between 2004 and 2006. According to The Straits Times, she
submitted false income tax or Central
Provident Fund statements to secure loans for applicants who did
not meet income requirements.
Her actions misled the bank into approving and disbursing
housing loans of between S$112,000 and S$2.25 million each to about
170 clients.
Also charged on Thursday were housing agents Siti Rahayu Masud, 38, and Lau Thuan Heng, 62.
The duo were accused of submitting a false
statement of affairs and failing to deliver surpluses from
the sale of properties to the Official Assignee.
Goh allegedly assisted Siti and Lau on 14 occasions in 2005 and
2006 to cheat OCBC Bank of S$11 million in the form of housing
loans. It is unclear if Goh accepted any commission from the agents
in exchange for obtaining the bank's approval.
Goh also allegedly misled the bank on seven occasions into
paying commissions totaling S$11,258 to housing agent Lay Liang
Suan, purportedly for referring customers to the bank for housing
loans.
Goh, who started working for the bank in 2004, quit in 2006.
Married with a young child, she is now working in an administrative
position with a local company. Goh, who is represented by lawyer
Chen Chee Yen, is out on police bail of S$700,000.
Chen asked for the case to be postponed so that he could take
instructions from his client on the charges. She will be back in
court on 9 June.
Siti and Lau also faced charges under the Bankruptcy Act. They
are also accused of multiple counts of leaving the country without
permission.
Both were remanded as they were unable to post bail of S$500,000
each.
If convicted of cheating, the trio can be jailed for up to seven
years on each charge, and fined.
-- Yahoo!