2 men charged for alleged attempt to cheat IRAS of over S$33,000 in Jobs Support Scheme grants

Two men, aged 30 and 59, were charged in court on Jul. 30 for their suspected involvement in cheating offences in relation to grants provided by the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS).

The JSS is administered by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).

The 30-year-old man was also charged for cheating in relation to grants under the E-Commerce Booster Package, administered by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG).

30-year-old submitted false information about his companies' wages

According to a press release by the police, the 30-year-old was a director of two companies.

He had allegedly submitted false information on his employees’ wages to IRAS and EnterpriseSG to obtain the JSS and E-Commerce Booster Package grants respectively for both companies.

Both of the schemes were time-limited and have since ended.

Under the JSS, the government co-funded 25 per cent to 75 per cent of the gross monthly wages paid to each local employee through cash grants.

To ensure that JSS payouts were fairly and correctly disbursed, IRAS conducted reviews of higher risk cases using data analytics and information provided by the public. It could adjust or deny the payouts to employers who were unable to substantiate their eligibility.

Under the E-Commerce Booster Package, grants were given to support the cost for companies to go on board e-commerce platforms and strengthen their digital marketing capabilities.

It included support of up to 90 per cent of the qualifying costs, and wage support of up to three employees for three months.

The JSS grants for both of the man's companies were withheld, while the E-Commerce Booster Package grants were disbursed.

Allegedly cheated EnterpriseSG into disbursing a total of $33,120 in grants

The press release added that the 30-year-old allegedly attempted to cheat IRAS into disbursing S$30,188 in JSS grants, with the help of the 59-year-old man, by deceiving IRAS about how 10 employees were paid full salaries in May 2020.

However, this was supposedly false as the employees were required to pay back their salaries to the 30-year-old man.

The 59-year-old man had allegedly assisted in the fraud by funding the CPF contributions for the inflated salaries of these employees so that they would qualify for the JSS payouts.

For the second company, the 30-year-old man allegedly to attempted to cheat IRAS into disbursing S$3,375 in JSS grants by falsely declaring that an individual, who was not an employee, had worked for the company in May 2020.

As for the E-Commerce Booster Package grants, the 30-year-old man allegedly cheated EnterpriseSG into disbursing a total of S$33,120 by falsely declaring in April and May 2021 that wages were paid to the employees of both companies in 2020 and 2021.

The offences of cheating and conspiring to cheat each carry an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, and a fine.

Top left photo via IRAS/Facebook, right photo via State Courts