SINGAPORE: Two Filipino women were sentenced to jail
on Monday for being part of a conspiracy to cheat Standard
Chartered Bank.
One of them, Charon Legaspi Dimpas, was sentenced to
45 months behind bars for cheating the bank of
S$759,900.
The 26-year-old former direct sales agent from
telemarketing company, Touch & Tech, committed the offence
between June and November 2009.
She pleaded guilty to eight charges while 88 other similar ones
were taken into consideration.
Touch & Tech was engaged by the bank to telemarket the
unsecured credit facilities the bank offers to prospective
clients.
To earn additional income, Dimpas became part of a syndicate that
illegally helped foreigners secure such credit facilities from the
bank even though they were not eligible for the services.
She had forged her applicants' pay slips by inflating their monthly
incomes so that their annual pay would appear to be more than
S$60,000.
The court heard that their annual income has to be at least that
amount to be eligible for such credit facilities.
And because foreigners holding employment passes must have a
minimum of one-year validity remaining on their working papers,
Dimpas also forged letters of extension for employment to assist
her applicants.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang told the court that Dimpas
earned a commission of more than S$8,000 from her 96 successful
applications using the forged documents.
The other offender, 39-year-old Maria Theresa Arenas Garcia, who
was one of the applicants, was sentenced to six months' jail for
being part of the ruse.
By submitting forged pay slips and a bogus letter of extension for
employment, the administrative operation executive had deceived the
bank into giving her a loan of
S$10,500.
For the offences, each woman could have been jailed up to ten years
and fined for each charge.
- CNA/ir