Former PA personnel jailed for pocketing $12k public funds

A deputy constituency director at Yew Tee Community Club (CC) pocketed more than $12,000 in public funds, collected as part of ticket sales for a National Day dinner it had organised.

Lim Jia Sheng, 37, who was employed under the People’s Association (PA) at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust and was sentenced to four months’ jail on Aug 14.

He has since resigned from his position.

Lim had made full restitution, defence lawyer Jared Lee told the court, adding that his client had a gambling addiction that led to him committing the offence.

Mr Lee also said that Lim has stopped gambling, and regrets not setting a good example for his two children.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Chan Yi Cheng said that the offender started working as a constituency manager at Yew Tee CC in 2012.

Lim was introduced to online gambling three years later and became addicted to it. He had an account on a gambling website and deposited money into it.

The prosecutor added: “He would use his salary to gamble, but soon thereafter he started to incur debts from credit cards and licensed moneylenders.”

Lim became a deputy constituency director in 2016, the court heard.

In June 2023, Yew Tee CC began planning for the National Day dinner which was held in August that year.

Lim and an unnamed colleague were in charge of the event and the pair were tasked to sell tickets for it. Each ticket cost $30 and they came in booklets.

Lim was also tasked to distribute the booklets to groups such as neighbourhood committees so that the tickets could be sold to residents.

The money collected was handed to Lim, who held a ticket distribution form.

The representatives from the committees used the document to provide details on the tickets sold and the cash received.

Lim then decided to misappropriate the cash to feed his gambling addiction and deposited the money into his own bank account.

DPP Chan said: “The accused deposited about $5,000 back to Yew Tee CC’s bank account, and intended to return the rest of the monies to (it) after he received his bonus in December 2023.

“However, due to his personal debts, he was unable to return the said cash in time.”

On Dec 21, 2023, a grassroots leader went to Lim’s office to ask him about the cash.

Lim then admitted that he had borrowed the money to settle his gambling debts.

The grassroots leader alerted the CC’s constituency director who confronted Lim about the matter.

She asked Lim if he had closed the account linked to the dinner but he indicated that he had not done so.

The woman then told him to do so within a week and keep her updated on the situation.

Five days later, she texted him to ask whether he had deposited the money into the CC’s bank account but received no reply.

The woman obtained a copy of the ticket distribution form and found that more than $12,000 was not accounted for.

Lim later admitted that he had taken the amount and she alerted the police on Jan 15.

He is expected to begin serving his sentence on Aug 20 and his bail has been set at $15,000.