On 12 October 2022, a 34-year-old man, Cassidy Geoffery Owen (“Cassidy”), was charged with 34 offences relating to two companies where he held directorships. Cassidy was the managing director of aircraft rental and charter company Zetta Jet Pte Ltd (“Zetta Jet”) between 2015 and 2017. He also held a directorship in aircraft management and consulting company Asia Aviation Company Pte Ltd (“Asia Aviation”) between 2009 and 2017.
Between 2016 and 2017, Cassidy allegedly misappropriated more than S$11 million from Zetta Jet. These losses are the subject of six counts of criminal breach of trust under Section 406 of the Penal Code. If convicted, he faces imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, or a fine, or both, for each charge.
Cassidy is also alleged to have used more than S$1.4 million of the misappropriated amounts for property-related expenditures. For this, he was charged with three counts of using the benefits of criminal conduct under Section 47(1)(c) punishable under Section 47(6) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act. If convicted, he faces an imprisonment term which may extend to 10 years, or a fine not exceeding $500,000, or both, for each charge.
Cassidy is further accused of purportedly cheating a company, AirLNG Ltd, into delivering more than US$400,000 to Asia Aviation on five occasions between 25 April 2014 and 27 May 2015. If convicted under Section 420 of the Penal Code, he faces an imprisonment term which may extend to 10 years and a fine, for each charge.
In connection with the abovementioned offences, Cassidy is alleged to have abetted his employees to:
- forge invoices purportedly issued by two overseas companies on 12 occasions; and/or
- falsify the accounts of Zetta Jet and Asia Aviation on eight occasions.
If convicted of abetting forgery under Section 465 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, he faces an imprisonment term which may extend to four years, a fine, or both. If convicted of abetting the falsification of accounts under Section 477A read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, he faces an imprisonment term which may extend to 10 years, a fine, or both, for each charge.
A 46-year-old woman, June Tang Kim Choo (“June”), was also charged on 12 October 2022 with an offence under Section 157(1) read with Section 157(3)(b) of the Companies Act. June, who was a director of Zetta Jet between 2015 and 2017, allegedly failed to use reasonable diligence in the discharge of the duties of her office, by authorising payments totalling more than S$5 million without ascertaining whether the payments were for the company’s purposes. The offence of breaching the duties of a director under Section 157(3)(b) of the Companies Act is punishable with a fine not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
12 October 2022 @ 10:30 AM