SINGAPORE - The fifth and final person linked to a ruse that saw false claims submitted to claim monies from a skills-training programme run by a government agency has admitted to his role in the scheme.
Marsh Terranova Tiruchellam, who was a trainer for business consultancy firm Loyal Reliance, received nearly $7,500 from the firm as "trainer's fees" for six courses he purportedly conducted in 2014.
On Friday (Dec 17), the 54-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of falsification of accounts.
Four others, including Serene Loh Peh Wen, then 47, and Patrick Ho Kok Wing, then 57, were dealt with in court earlier.
They were each sentenced to between 11 weeks' and 29 months' jail.
By submitting false information linked to training courses that were not conducted, they had caused the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), now known as SkillsFuture Singapore, to disburse around $73,000 in total.
Marsh's offences were linked to $27,068 of the total sum.
At the time of the offences, the Singaporean was working with Loh, who was engaged by Loyal Reliance as an independent training consultant between late 2013 and April 2015.
Marsh was a trainer there from around 2013 to March 2015.
Loyal Reliance was a training provider approved by WDA under the Funding for Employer-based Training Scheme, which aimed to encourage firms to upgrade their workers' skills by defraying their costs.
Under the scheme, companies could apply for training grants to fund their employees' participation in courses run by approved training providers.
There were two types of training grants. One of them, known as the "course fee grant", provided up to 90 per cent of the course fees per employee.
It could be paid to either the training provider or the company that applied for the grant.
The other was known as the "absentee payroll grant", which provided for up to 80 per cent of each employee's hourly salary - capped at $7.50 per hour - while they attended training courses during work hours.
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This grant was paid to the applicant company.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay said that in June 2014, Loh enlisted Marsh's help to conduct courses for Yoke Mah Plasterceil, a company which deals with items such as cement and plaster.
DPP Tay added: "Marsh was fully aware that he was not required to conduct the courses.
"Marsh was also fully aware of the (ruse) to submit fraudulent claims to WDA, notwithstanding that the courses were not in fact conducted and the local employees of Yoke Mah did not in fact attend the said courses."
He signed on attendance records and assessment forms to dupe WDA into believing that Loyal Reliance had conducted courses for Yoke Mah's local employees.
As a result, WDA disbursed more than $27,000 for the six courses.
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The ruse came to light when the Commercial Affairs Department received a complaint from a WDA senior manager in October 2015, alleging that Yoke Mah and Loyal Reliance had submitted falsified information to it.
SkillsFuture was fully compensated for the amount it had disbursed.
Marsh's bail was set at $15,000 on Friday and he is expected to be sentenced in February next year.
For each count of falsification of accounts, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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