An employee who worked in the Human Resource (HR) Department of an interior design firm in Singapore was awarded a punishment of 18 months and six weeks imprisonment after pleading guilty to cheating and breach of trust.

The HR employee was found making illegal pay claims for herself involving 148,000 dollars. The 53-year-old Tan Lee Nah was heading the payroll process at D’Perception Singapore. The cases include cheating and criminal breach of trust, in addition to another 18 charges while considering her jail term.

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According to a report by the South China Morning Post, two months after joining the firm, the woman began to submit false claims for expenses in 2017 until she was caught in 2019. She deceitfully managed to accumulate around $148,000 during this two-year period using unauthorised pay.

Notably, the woman claimed to have used the money for the medical bills of her parents as well as for the school fees of her child, noting that she could not pay the company back as she does not possess the money to do so.

While considering the case, the judge opined that the former HR treated the company’s coffers like her “personal piggy bank,” securing money and claiming false travel expenses, among others.

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Tan Lee Nah was the sole employee of the company to possess the password to the company’s payroll system, as she was entrusted with inputting all the staffers salaries into the system.

HR’s malpractice was revealed when an employee noticed a copy of Lee Nah’s salary statement, showing that she received allowances in addition to her basic salary.