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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Dude I was a S1 scapegoat earning 3.2k just few years ago.
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s://.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/audit-assistant-forge-signature-report-singapore-football-clubs-woodlands-wellington-hougang-united-tiong-bahru-3773311
Are you this guy?
SINGAPORE: An audit assistant who forged an accountant's signature on an independent auditor's report for Woodlands Wellington Football Club was fined S$20,000 on Friday (Sep 15).
The court heard that Lau Chee Yoong, 34, employed by public accounting practice Chan Leng Leng & Co at the time, committed the offence due to stress from his workload.
Lau was found out when investigations into a separate matter involving Tiong Bahru Football Club unearthed his wrongdoing.
He pleaded guilty to the forgery charge relating to Woodlands Wellington, while a similar charge involving Hougang United Football Club was taken into consideration for sentencing. Both Hougang United and Woodlands Wellington were clients of Chan Leng Leng & Co.
The court heard that before March 2016, Lau was assigned by sole proprietor Chan Leng Leng to conduct the audit on Woodlands Wellington for the financial year of 2015.
With the help of a Woodlands Wellington finance executive, Lau began auditing the football club's accounts. But his workload began to pile up as he was juggling multiple accounts, causing a delay.
Woodlands Wellington's finance executive began to pressure him to finish the work so that the club could submit its financial statements to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) by the end of May 2016.
Lau finalised the financial statements towards the end of May. He was then supposed to submit the financial statements and working papers to Chan for inspection before she signed on an independent auditor's report.
However, Lau was unable to submit the documents to Chan as he was assigned other audits and was rushing to complete them.
At the same time, Woodland Wellington's finance executive continued to pressure him for the signed documents.
Caving under the stress, Lau decided to forge Chan's signature.
He photocopied Chan's signature on an independent auditor's report for the previous financial year, and cut out the signature. He then glued the cut-out signature onto the independent auditor's report for that financial year, before photocopying the documents.
Using a pen, Lau then traced the signature to make it look more realistic.
He then stamped the date May 16, 2016, before sending the report along with the financial statements of financial year 2015 to Woodlands Wellington.
The football club did not detect the forgery and submitted the statements to the Registry of Societies, IRAS and the Football Association of Singapore, among other entities.
The forgery was only discovered during the Commercial Affairs Department's investigations into Tiong Bahru Football Club, after Sports Singapore lodged a police report about Tiong Bahru's irregularities in April 2017.
As part of the probe, the authorities also investigated Hougang United and Woodlands Wellington and seized their audit reports. During investigations, Chan told investigators that she did not sign on financial statements relating to Woodlands Wellington and Hougang United accounts for the financial year of 2015. Investigations then revealed Lau's crime.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said that audit associates have important duties, as the endorsement of financial statements will impact external decisions made by parties, such as investors, in relation to the financial health of companies.
He added that the court could not downplay the importance of financial statements meant to project the financial sustainability of a company.
He sought a fine of S$20,000 (US$14,700) to S$25,000 for Lau.
If government bodies could not trust the authenticity of documents, the trust in the system would be undermined, Mr Thiagesh argued.
A significant fine was needed to "deter like-minded individuals from committing such offences", he said.
"Not only does it restore trust in system, it also deters auditing professionals from committing these offences without thinking of the consequences."
Another aggravating factor was how the crime went undetected until the investigations into Tiong Bahru Football Club, which took almost a year.
Lau's lawyer Gideon Yap proposed a fine of S$10,000, providing a range of cases which showed that the "standard amount" imposed was less than half of what he was seeking.
He said S$10,000 would be sufficient to send a strong message given his client's case, where there was "no benefit" but a mistake committed "in a moment of pressure".
Mr Yap also asked District Judge Ronald Gwee to take into account the "significant delay of seven years" for the matter to be concluded.
Judge Gwee agreed with the prosecution that deterrence was important to deter other audit professionals from taking the same route.
For forgery, Lau could have been jailed up to four years, or fined, or both.
