By Alicia Chua
Copyright tnp
The director of an accounting firm has admitted to siphoning more than $1.21 million from five client companies by forging documents in some 224 transactions over a period of two years.
According to Shin Min Daily News, Huang Manxin (transliterated) changed her PayNow name to mirror that of suppliers in order to disguise the transfers, which she later used for personal expenses.
When a financial specialist discovered a discrepancy in one of the transactions, the 39-year-old attempted to cover up her tracks by transferring money from her mother’s account to a supplier.
She also deleted fraudulent entries and even asked the director of a supplier to lie on her behalf. The director refused and notified her company.
On Sept 22, Huang pleaded guilty to five charges, including criminal breach of trust, offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, and forgery.
Another 18 charges will be taken into consideration at her sentencing, which will take place on Oct 29.
Embezzlement scheme
The court heard that Huang’s firm was engaged by five client companies. Her duties included preparing accounts for these companies, processing payments, bank reconciliation, and financial reports. She was also able to access her company’s online banking account to facilitate payments to suppliers.
All five companies used the same accounting software, which only Huang had access to and which was never audited. The lack of oversight therefore allowed her to exploit the system.
In July 2019, as she was facing financial difficulties at home, Huang began diverting company funds into her own account. Instead of paying suppliers, she selected invoices and signed vouchers at random, funnelling the payments to herself.
To cover up the transfers, she renamed her PayNow account to match the suppliers’ names on the vouchers, then changed the name again once the transfers had gone through.
She also delayed actual supplier payments by two to three days to avoid suspicion, which ultimately led the companies to pay double the sums owed.
Court documents revealed that between July 9, 2019 and Aug 31, 2021, Huang carried out 224 unauthorised transactions, misappropriating about $1.21 million.
The funds went toward household and credit card bills, electrical appliances, online shopping, luxury goods, mobile game top-ups, and feng shui items.
Investigations showed that even after overcoming her financial woes, Huang continued misappropriating company funds out of greed.
Attempted to cover up crimes
At the end of August 2021, a financial specialist at one of the five companies discovered an error on an invoice submitted by a supplier.
Logging into the accounting software to review the invoice, the specialist discovered that one entry did not match the actual account. Further investigation revealed that Huang had keyed in a false entry to conceal her crimes.
When the specialist questioned Huang, not only did she lie about what she had done, she also borrowed $12,000 from a friend and transferred $12,536 from her mother’s bank account to a supplier, while deleting the fraudulent entries.
Huang also called a director of the supplier company, pleading with him to help her lie in order to cover up her crimes. The director refused and notified her company.
The financial specialist discovered the deletion of the fraudulent entries and reported the matter to Huang’s company. When confronted by a company director, she continued to feign ignorance until the director threatened to take action against her, at which point she confessed.
The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) arrested Huang on Sept 2 and seized multiple items from her home.
Plea for leniency
In his plea for leniency, Huang’s lawyer said she was suffering from severe depression at the time, which significantly impaired her judgment.
The lawyer noted that although greed later drove her to continue her crimes, her initial misdeed was largely influenced by depression.
He added that Huang has repaid some of the money she stole, actively cooperated with CAD investigators, and pleaded guilty early on. The lawyer hoped the judge would take this into consideration and impose a lighter sentence on Huang.