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SINGAPORE: Over three months, an account manager with access to the bank accounts of two companies misappropriated S $ 1.3 million which she transferred to a man known only as “Benjamin”, with whom she had fallen in love.
She did so after the man promised to send her a package with gifts, jewelry and 370,000 euros ($ 593,000). He thought he could use the money to reimburse the companies.
Liew Bee Yee, 43, was jailed for six years on Wednesday (March 10) on a charge of breach of trust as a servant.
His lawyer called it “a love gone wrong,” and Liew hoped Benjamin would settle the matter “like a knight in shining armor.” She had booked transportation and accommodation hoping that he would arrive in Singapore.
The court heard that Liew came to work in Singapore after graduating with a degree in business administration in Kuala Lumpur. She worked for the McCoy electronic components company for 10 years from 2009 and was promoted in 2015 to account manager.
In his role, he was entrusted with control of the money in the bank accounts of McCoy and his related company iConnexion. He also handled McCoy’s line of credit with Western Union Business Solutions.
In August 2019, Liew became friends online with a man named “Benjamin.” They started chatting on WhatsApp and Benjamin asked Liew to be his girlfriend. However, Liew turned him down, saying she had a boyfriend.
Despite this, they continued to talk, and Benjamin said he was a pilot who had flown to Paris and promised to send Liew a package with gifts and money.
He texted Liew on August 23, 2019, saying he would receive a package from Paris with cash inside and asking for his residential address. She refused at first, but gave her company address out of curiosity.
A few days later, a person calling himself Kian contacted Liew on WhatsApp, claiming to be from “Open Wings Global Express Service.” He asked Liew to make the payment as Benjamin’s package was overweight.
She transferred S $ 3,600 from her own savings to a dedicated account provided by Kian. After this, he asked Benjamin what he had sent him. He told her that it was a package containing 370,000 euros and that she “felt happy and became greedy,” according to court documents.
Benjamin later claimed that there were other branded items and jewelry in the package. Over the next several weeks, Kian continued to ask Liew for more payments for things like taxes and “security.”
When he ran out of money in his own accounts, Liew began transferring cash from McCoy and iConnexion to serve this purpose. The amounts ranged from S $ 12,800 to S $ 80,000.
Over three months, Liew misappropriated S $ 1.3 million in total from the two companies.
The iConnexion director received a call from Western Union in late September 2019, requesting refunds of the credit withdrawn by the company. He said the company had not borrowed money and asked Liew to verify it.
He stated that it was a misunderstanding that would be resolved as he believed that he would be able to return the money once he received the package.
However, the director received another call when he returned to Singapore in October 2019 and confronted Liew, who admitted to embezzling the money.
The police seized a total of S $ 32,446 from 11 bank accounts that Kian had provided, and Liew partially restored S $ 170,000.
The balance of S $ 1.1 million was not recovered and Western Union has taken legal action against McCoy and iConnexion.
The package that was promised to Liew never arrived.
GUILT NOT REDUCED BECAUSE IT WAS DECEIVED: FISCAL
Assistant District Attorney Emily Koh called for seven years in jail for Liew, citing the significant breach of trust in the way she misappropriated the money 33 times over three months.
He took deliberate steps to hide his tracks and was not sincere when first confronted, Ms Koh said, adding that Liew was the sole account manager for both companies.
“The fact that the defendant has been misled by scammers does not reduce her guilt,” he said. “Ultimately, she was motivated by greed rather than need, hoping for a reward.”
Attorneys Genith Lim and Simon Tan asked for five years in jail instead, pointing to Liew’s clean record, genuine remorse, and restitution that was all he could afford.
They said that he did not enjoy any personal benefit and had a genuine belief that he would be able to return the money once he received the package.
They added that Liew was a “simple, naive and unsophisticated lady” who was the victim of a scam due to her trusting nature.
Tan said Liew is not married and lived alone in Singapore, trying to earn a living while her family was in Malaysia.
“When Benjamin first approached her and fell in love with him, he took her by surprise,” she said, adding that Liew thought he would “come, like a knight in shining armor.”
“Your Honor, this is a love gone wrong. I urge you to consider it – she never intended to cause any harm to the company,” he said.
She could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
