SINGAPORE – The head of the information technology (IT) department at an aerospace firm pretended to be two different vendors and signed on forged delivery orders, inducing his employer to make payments totalling nearly $637,000.

       At the time of the offences, Lim Eng Giap was working for Eagle Services Asia, before he was retrenched in November 2016. His offences were uncovered soon after, following an internal investigation by the company.

       The prosecution said that the company suffered at least $260,000 in losses.

       In May 2024, Lim paid $260,000 to Eagle Services Asia in a settlement agreement for claims over the losses caused.

       On Aug 8, the 58-year-old man pleaded guilty to two cheating charges involving more than $500,000 and was sentenced to 13 months’ jail. Two other charges relating to the remaining amount were considered during sentencing.

       Lim joined the company in 1998 as a workshop engineer, before he was transferred to the IT department around six years later.

       When he became its head, his responsibilities included making recommendations on the type of IT equipment to buy.

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       One of the company’s approved vendors was a firm called Omega Communications, owned by Mr Mark Koh.

       In or around May 2015, Lim approached Mr Koh with a plan to use Omega’s status as an approved vendor to supply IT equipment to Eagle Services Asia.

       Deputy Public Prosecutor Ronnie Ang told the court: “The accused... offered 15 per cent commission on every transaction for allowing him to use Omega’s status as an approved vendor, to which Mark agreed.”

       As part of the ruse, Lim forged quotations with Omega’s letterhead and sent them to Eagle Services Asia. After Eagle Services Asia accepted the quotations, he forged delivery orders with Omega’s letterhead and signed them.

       This was done to certify that the items specified in the delivery orders were purportedly delivered by Omega to Eagle Services Asia.

       According to court documents, Lim then sent the signed delivery orders to Mr Koh, who sent invoices to Eagle Services Asia for payment of the items stated on the documents.

       The DPP said: “After Omega received the payment from the victim, Omega kept about 15 per cent as commission and transferred the (remainder to a bank account on Lim’s) instructions... At all material times, Omega did not deliver any item specified in the... invoices to the victim.”

       Lim had told Mr Koh that the bank account belonged to an unnamed supplier. In reality, it was jointly owned by Lim and his wife, who was unaware of the transfers Omega had made.

       Between May 2015 and November 2016, Lim forged documents including 238 quotations, which allowed Omega to send the same number of invoices to Eagle Services Asia for payments totalling more than $500,000.

       Eagle Services Asia then delivered the amount to Omega, the court heard.

       Lim was retrenched on Nov 15, 2016, and around five days later, Eagle Services Asia found that certain documents relating to the purchase of some IT items were missing. This spurred the company to conduct an internal investigation and review the IT department’s documents.

       Lim’s offences came to light soon after, and he was charged in court in 2022.

       Court documents did not disclose if Mr Koh has been charged or dealt with in court.