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SINGAPORE: The prosecution on Friday (December 11) urged a court to convict a teacher of embezzlement of around S $ 40,000 of student funds, as both parties presented final arguments in a trial that spanned two years. All 20 teachers from the school’s English department testified in court during the course of the trial.
Maslinda Zainal, now 46, was head of the English department at Woodgrove Secondary School when she allegedly misappropriated approximately S $ 40,000 paid by students for learning materials between January 2016 and April 2017.
The suspended teacher, who has a master’s degree in education and had several teachers subordinate to her at the time, denied charges of criminal breach of trust as a public servant.
In his defense, he said he did not keep records of the cash because no one had told him they needed it, adding that he had used the money to buy stationery and other items for the students.
Assistant District Attorney David Koh urged the judge to convict Maslinda, saying she was an educator with considerable experience who oversaw the raising of money by her department teachers for the resource packets and contacted the bookstore that provided them. printed.
She was the only one who knew that the teachers had raised funds excessively, since the books cost less than what was cited on the list that was given to the students. This resulted in an excess cash of around S $ 21,600 in 2016.
Although he knew there was excess funding, he did not tell anyone about it, Koh said. Instead, he instructed his teachers to raise money according to the book’s list price for 2017 as well, taking the excess of approximately S $ 19,000.
She repeatedly admitted in police statements that she had taken the sum of S $ 39,000 to S $ 40,000. She told them that she was spending the money on her own expenses, like food, and that she was not buying anything fancy.
In his testimony, he said that “every year as teachers, we bought office supplies and teaching materials for students with our own money.”
“So, by her own admission, using the excess money to buy office supplies meant that she would benefit as she no longer had to use her own money to buy stationery and teaching materials,” Koh said.
“This was in contrast to several of the teachers who stated that if the school did not provide them with the office supplies they needed, they would simply buy theirs with their own money.”
He also admitted to Ministry of Education (MOE) investigators that it was wrong of him to use student money to buy office supplies, but he did so because it was problematic to return the cash, Koh said.
He argued that Maslinda’s actions resulted in unfair losses, as the students did not receive the refunds to which they were entitled, and illegal gains, as Maslinda used the money for his own purposes.
CASE BACKGROUND
The school’s English department began producing its own resource packs in 2012, and the school’s bookstore, run by Madam Cheng Bee Lian, was printing them.
Mdm Cheng testified that his long-standing practice was to indicate an estimated price of S $ 15 on the book list and had told Maslinda about this, as all book lists had to be verified by their respective HOD.
Maslinda agreed on the estimated price and that the actual cost would eventually be reflected in the invoices they provided. Mdm Cheng testified that the final prices of the books had never exceeded the estimated prices of S $ 15 since this practice began.
Maslinda informed the teachers how much they had to charge their students, either in a WhatsApp chat or in a department meeting, and made them charge the amounts indicated in the book lists.
The alleged crimes came to light when the principal of the English Lower Secondary School, Jacqueline Chan, asked Mdm Cheng on the first day of school in 2016 for a copy of the invoices so that she or Maslinda could disseminate information to teachers about how much to charge.
Mdm Cheng told her that he had already told Maslinda about this, and that Maslinda had told Mdm Cheng not to give the invoices to Ms. Chan, but to give them only to Maslinda.
Mdm Cheng testified at trial that Maslinda had also told him not to hand over the 2017 invoices to Ms Chan. However, Mdm Cheng eventually gave Ms. Chan a copy of the invoices, and Ms. Chan realized that there was a discrepancy between the amounts charged by the teachers and the amounts on the invoices.
He waited two weeks to see if more documents would be produced, before pointing out the problem to a deputy editor when they did not come to light.
When the principal found out, he was surprised by such a large over-collection and the matter was turned over to investigators at the Ministry of Education and the police.
After being questioned by District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam, Koh said that the prosecution’s case is that Maslinda misappropriated the total sum of S $ 40,000.
Even if he had used some of the money on office supplies for students, as he claimed, this is still a misappropriation, Koh said.
The other English teachers stated that Maslinda did not tell any of them that he had raised money in excess.
THE CASE OF DEFICIENCY
Defense attorney Singa Retnam urged the judge to examine the facts of the case and the system at the school, even if there was one.
He said it was the responsibility of the prosecution to prove his case and questioned whether Maslinda’s use of the money was dishonest if it was done in good faith for the students.
READ: Woodgrove teacher trial: Principal did not know money was raised from students, defense says
The defense case had three fronts: that Maslinda did not count or keep records of the cash that was given to him and it was possible that some teachers had not paid him in full according to the list of books, that the invoices in court did not they were fully compliant. reflect the sums paid to the bookstore, and that the excess money had been used for the benefit of the students without dishonesty.
READ: MOE investigators ‘harassed’ me: teacher accused of taking student money breaks down on stand
Maslinda had testified about feeling “harassed” by Ministry of Education investigators and “threatened” by a police officer who said she would not be charged if she signed a statement and agreed to pay a stipulated amount. He then paid the S $ 40,000 in full.
The judge asked the prosecutor what his position was if all the S $ 40,000 had been used on office supplies and he referred to a case cited by the defense in which the defendant used a full sum for bona fide students and therefore Therefore, no dishonesty was found.
Mr. Koh replied that it would not be in good faith for Maslinda to use the money raised from Secondary 1 students for upper secondary students.
“But you have to look at it in the context of the school. She doesn’t differentiate between classes,” Judge Ng replied.
Mr. Koh replied that Maslinda was using it as a combined sum, and she was the one who decided unilaterally on its use, without any doubt what the students wanted or needed.
The judge said he needed time to review the evidence, based on the arguments presented on Friday. He postponed the verdict until January 12.
If convicted of breach of trust as a public official, Maslinda can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined for each count.
