Integrity of fund-raising events

1) A FORMER key witness at T. T. Durai's trial was charged on Thursday with abetting the former chief executive of National Kidney Foundation to use fictitious invoice to cheat the charity.
David Tan Kee Kan, 66, managing director of DTC and chairman of TID associates, is also accused of two counts of giving false evidence at Durai's trial in 2007.

He allegedly abetted Durai by providing him with a DTC fake invoice to deceive the NKF into releasing $20,000 to him in December 2003 for services not rendered.
Durai has been dealt with over the same invoice. He was convicted and sentenced to three months jail after a 20-day trial.

Tan is said to have given false evidence in court twice on March 13, 2007.
Tan, represented by Mr Greogory Ong, will be back in court on Oct 29.
If convicted of aiding Durai, he can be fined up to $100,00 and/or jailed up to five years.
For giving false evidence, the maximum penalty is up to seven years jail and a fine.

2) She started out as a trainee nurse after her O levels when she was just 16 years old.

Stephanie Chee Jok Heng, 51, went on to further her studies.

Today, she has an impressive list of educational qualifications. She holds a diploma, a bachelor’s degree, four master’s degrees and a doctorate.Chee also worked her way up to become the general manager of Parkway Healthcare Foundation (PHF), the charity arm of one of the largest health-care groups in Singapore.Yesterday, in jailing her 13 months, District Judge Jasvender Kaur said it was “a great pity” that Chee had worked so hard, but “succumbed to taking advantage” of the weak internal controls of the institutions where she was working.

Chee had claimed trial to 10 charges of cheating PHF and the Toa Payoh Senior Citizens’ Health Care Centre of $5,761 between March 2003 and April 2004. She was then general manager of the Toa Payoh centre and Geylang Senior Citizens’ Health Care Centre, both managed by PHF.Chee, who is now a part-time lecturer at the National Institute of Education, was convicted last month following a 20-day trial.

The court was told that Chee, a divorcee with three daughters, had deceived PHF and the Toa Payoh centre into believing that sums of money she paid to two women were legitimate payments for work done. But it turned out that the two women were the piano and Chinese tuition teachers whom Chee hired for her children.

She also made a double claim to reimburse herself twice for her brother’s plastic surgery bill.The judge said that the offences showed her “sustained dishonesty” and the abuse of her role as a general manager was “exceedingly serious”. She also ordered Chee to repay the amount she took.‘Simple cheating case’In her mitigation, Chee’s lawyer, Mr Andrew Hanam, said that “no elaborate schemes were involved”, and that Chee’s case was a “simple cheating case”.

He added that the amount involved was considerably small and that Chee had suffered from depression for the past 20 years. She was recently diagnosed with a major depressive disorder.He also urged the court to consider Chee’s various contributions to the health-care sector. A first-time offender, she had won a number of awards, including the Healthcare Humanity Award 2004 for being an “outstanding healthcare worker who went beyond the call of duty”. She also served as a volunteer in several capacities, including as a member of the Singapore Nursing Board from 1996 to 1999.

Mr Hanam tendered Chee’s list of educational qualifications and work history. She became a registered nurse in 1978 and worked in local hospitals for 21 years. Part of her nursing credentials include being a nurse educator with Gleneagles Hospital. She joined PHF in 1999 as a research nurse and was promoted to senior manager a year later.

Two of her degrees – a master’s and a doctorate – were sponsored by Parkway Holdings, the parent company of PHF, while another three master’s degrees were paid for by PHF. In the prosecution’s submissions on sentence, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gordon Oh cited the cases of TT Durai and Buddhist monk Ming Yi.Durai, then CEO of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), was convicted in 2007 and jailed three months in 2008 for using a fake invoice to cheat NKF.

Ming Yi, the founder and former chief executive of Ren Ci Hospital, filed an appeal with the High Court last October against his conviction and 10-month jail term on charges that include fraud, falsifying accounts, misappropriating $50,000 and giving false information to the Commissioner of Charities.DPP Oh urged the court to impose a stiff sentence to deter like-minded offenders, given the “prevalence of offences against charities”.

He added that the offences were deliberate and premeditated, and noted that Chee had not repaid the institutions.Paraplegic doctorChee is separately embroiled in an unrelated civil suit with paraplegic doctor William Tan Kian Meng, 52.She had sued him over alleged loans and property investments totalling $410,000. The case was heard in the High Court earlier this week and is still pending.

Dr Tan claims that the loans were “love gifts” as the two were former lovers.Chee is appealing against her conviction and sentence. Her bail has been doubled to $20,000.

She could have been jailed up to seven years and fined on each charge.

Source:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_430998.html
http://thecourtroom.stomp.com.sg/stomp/courtroom/case_of_the_day/340682/parkway_c
haritys_exgm_gets_13_months_for_cheating.html

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