SINGAPORE: Branded goods, holidays with her family
and household expenses - that was what a woman who was convicted of
forging cheques worth S$1 million spent the criminal proceeds on, a
court heard Wednesday.
Samantha Chiam Hwee Theng, 31, also had about 200
pairs of shoes and 80 branded bags, with multiple purchases of the
same item, the court heard.
The police have recovered a number of branded
handbags, along with almost S$450,000 worth of jewellery and luxury
watches.
Chiam, a former secretary for the director of Triple Electronic
David Wu, was charged in September last year for forging the
signatures of Mr Wu on 32 of his cheques.
She has been in remand since.
According to court documents, between 2008 and 2009, Chiam forged
Mr Wu's signature on US-dollar dominated cheques of his account in
Changhwa Bank, a Taiwanese bank.
She would encash the cheques into Singapore dollars at money
changers Great East Forex. On the last occasion, on 17 Feb 2009,
she encashed a US$500,000 (S$750,500) cheque.
Mr Wu noticed this withdrawal five months later and confronted
her.
A month later, Chiam decided to confess to her crimes and
surrendered herself to the police after consulting a lawyer.
Yesterday, lawyers from the prosecution and the defence presented
their psychiatric evaluations of Ms Chiam to the court.
The defence said, in mitigation, that Chiam is suffering from a
mental illness known as compulsive-impulsive disorder, which led
her to spend large sums of money on shopping.
For example, she was reported to have spent at least S$10,000 at
Louis Vuitton and S$30,000 at Chanel on each shopping trip to the
luxury outlets.
But the prosecution said that Chiam's acts of forgery were
pre-meditated and planned, and did not involve any impulsive
behaviour associated with compulsive-impulsive disorder.
Chiam's mitigation plea also told of her desire to elevate her
social status among her peers, by buying branded goods, some of
which she kept for her own private collection and some she gave
away to friends and colleagues.
"Without my branded goods, I am nothing," she said in her
plea.
Her sentencing has been arranged for June 6.
- CNA/cc
