S’pore secretary embezzled S$63,000 from company after finding out she was pregnant, jailed 18 months

A 30-year-old secretary in Singapore embezzled S$63,000 from her employer after finding out that she was pregnant and worrying that she would not be able to afford the childbirth expenses.

She transferred the money into her personal bank account on 12 occasions over about two months.

Sim Shimin (transliteration) was sentenced to 18 months' jail, Shin Min Daily News reported.

She faced four charges, including criminal breach of trust and forgery, and pleaded guilty to three.

The remaining charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.

Found out she was 6.5 months pregnant

At the time of the offences, Sim worked as a secretary at Ossia International Ltd.

As part of her job, she was entrusted with the company's bank accounts and held the security token used to access them.

On May 4, 2024, Sim learned she was already six-and-a-half months pregnant.

The news apparently caught her by surprise.

Worried that she would not be able to afford the expenses associated with childbirth, she decided to take money from the company.

Between May 7 and Jul. 24, 2024, she made 12 transfers totalling S$63,000 from the company's accounts to her personal bank account.

Delayed handing over bank token

Sim went on maternity leave from Jul. 1.

However, she repeatedly delayed handing over the company's bank security token to her colleagues, which raised her supervisor's suspicions.

On Jul. 24, her supervisor asked her to surrender the token, saying it was needed to deal with an urgent matter.

The following day, the supervisor checked the company's bank accounts and discovered the unauthorised transfers.

A police report was subsequently lodged.

On the same day her offences were discovered, Sim emailed her supervisor and promised to repay the entire amount within two years.

However, she had not made any restitution by the time she was sentenced.

Forged bank statements to hide transfers

Sim also altered the company's bank statements to conceal what she had done.

As she was preparing to go on maternity leave, the company had asked her to hand over her duties to another employee in July 2024.

Fearing that the transfers would be discovered, Sim used a company laptop to alter bank statements from May, June and July.

She deleted records of the unauthorised transfers and changed the account balances on the statements to cover up the missing money.