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SINGAPORE: A high school teacher accused of misappropriating about S $ 40,000 from students said in court that she kept no records of the money she raised.
Maslinda Zainal, a former head of the English Department at Woodgrove High School, took the stand on Tuesday (Oct. 6) and claimed that she did not check or count the money given to her by other teachers for the purpose of printing learning materials.
There were no guidelines at the time on how the cash should be collected or handled, he said, noting that teachers had left the money on their desk in Ziploc envelopes and bags after collecting it from students.
“I didn’t keep records because no one told me I had to keep records when they gave me money,” the 46-year-old said.
Maslinda is challenging two counts of breach of trust as a public servant.
She is charged with embezzlement of approximately S $ 40,000 earmarked for student learning materials between January 2016 and April 2017.
READ: Woodgrove Secondary teacher on trial for allegedly pocketing S $ 40,000 from students
Maslinda told the court that the money raised was intended for the printing of Excel packets, which were used in place of English textbooks and workbooks for students.
When the packages were introduced in 2007, they were printed internally at the school for all students, he said.
This continued until 2012, when then-principal Sung Mee Har asked for such heavy printing to be outsourced, at the cost to be borne by students, he added.
When questioned by her IRB Law attorney Singa Retnam, Maslinda said no excess cash was collected until April 2016, when she realized there was money left in the box where she used to keep it.
He was unable to return the funds because he did not keep records of who had paid or how much was initially raised, he claimed.
He said he decided to use the extra money to buy assessment books and stationery for the students, which he noted that teachers generally paid out of pocket.
She thought this was “okay” since students were supposed to use the items for their homework, she said.
Stationery, which he said all teachers had access to, was kept in boxes in his cubicle at work, Maslinda said.
However, he noted that he could not prove to investigators that they had been purchased with the money, as he could not present receipts for his purchase.
About S $ 8,000 was recovered when investigators searched Maslinda’s desk on April 7, 2017, the day she was arrested.
Another S $ 11,000 was found in her purse, although Maslinda told them it was her own money.
READ: Woodgrove teacher trial: Principal did not know money was raised from students, defense says
Maslinda claimed that the investigators had told her that there was still some S $ 34,000 left that had not been accounted for and that she would not be charged if the amount was paid in full.
He paid the amount on May 17, 2017, he said, explaining that he felt responsible as he had not kept records of the money that was collected.
He also didn’t want the school to be held liable for the loss of money or for the students to suffer for its negligence, he said.
However, despite this, Maslinda was indicted in October of that year.
The defendant allegedly misappropriated S $ 40,000 entrusted to her in her capacity as Head of Department at Woodgrove Secondary School. (Screenshot from Google Street View)
“GREED”
In her cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Chew pointed out a discrepancy in an invoice dated February 3, 2016, which indicates that Maslinda had collected about S $ 1,700 for the materials of a particular module for High School students, which only costs around S $ 500 for printing.
Ms. Chew added that on February 15 of that year, Maslinda even sent text messages to other teachers, asking them to make the payment.
Maslinda, however, responded by stating that she did not receive the invoice until much later and that, as a teacher of Secondary Four and Five students, she did not know what materials Secondary One teachers required or how much they had to pay.
Earlier in court Tuesday, Maslinda said several bills were missing.
However, Ms Chew noted that this was not mentioned when the school bookstore staff member responsible for overseeing printing, known as Colleen, appeared in court.
The alleged missing invoices were an “afterthought,” Ms. Chew said.
Ms. Chew also pointed to a statement made by Maslinda to the police in which the defendant had said that the unaccounted for cash was spent “not just for me,” and asked if this meant that she had spent some of the money for her.
Maslinda, however, said she was referring to stationery that she had bought for educational purposes.
When asked why he did not explain to the police that this is what he meant, Maslinda said they did not ask him to clarify what he had said.
Maslinda told the court that she had no need to spend the extra money, noting the S $ 7,000 after contributions from the Central Provident Fund that she brought home each month as a department head.
In one of six statements made to the police, Maslinda admitted to having received around S $ 10,000.
Maslinda had previously said that she had been harassed by investigators and that her statements were made under duress.
On Tuesday, Ms. Chew also asked Maslinda if she knew that spending the money on items that were not Excel packages, without the students’ knowledge or consent, was wrong and if the decision was made unilaterally.
As a lead teacher, who had taught at Woodgrove Secondary for 15 years, Maslinda should have known what to do with cash, the Deputy Attorney General said.
Maslinda replied that she didn’t think it was wrong at the time.
Ms. Chew also noted that a former colleague of Maslinda said earlier in court that the former department head had responded “greed” when asked via text message how he had gotten into her situation.
However, Maslinda said the exchange had never happened, claiming that she had had no contact with the teacher in question since late 2016 when she stopped teaching at Woodgrove Secondary, or with any of her other colleagues since her arrest.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
If convicted of criminal breach of trust, Maslinda can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined for each count.
