Two former employees of Wirecard Asia Holding Pte Ltd (“Wirecard Asia”), James Aga Wardhana (“Wardhana”) and Chai Ai Lim (“Chai”), were convicted on 20 June 2023 of criminal breach of trust and other offences. They were sentenced to 21 months and 10 months’ imprisonment respectively.
James Aga Wardhana
Wardhana, a 40-year-old Indonesia citizen and a Singapore Permanent Resident, was the International Finance Process Manager of Wirecard Asia, which was part of the Wirecard AG group. Wardhana reported to Edo Kurniawan (“Edo”), the then Vice President of Controlling and International Finance in Wirecard Asia. Both were authorised signatories of the Wirecard Asia bank account.
Wardhana admitted that between May and June 2018, he conspired with Edo to commit criminal breach of trust against Wirecard Asia. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Wardhana received $100,000 from Wirecard Asia. Edo had arranged for him to receive this sum of money on the false pretext that it was a variable bonus, when it was in fact intended for Wardhana to hand it over to an unknown person.
Wardhana also admitted to conspiring with Edo and a director of another company to commit further criminal breach of trust against Wirecard Asia. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Wardhana approved the payment of a total sum of $123,070 from Wirecard Asia to the company between October and December 2018. Edo had arranged with the director to receive this sum of money on the false pretext that the payment was for services that the company provided when in fact it was intended for Wardhana to receive the money from the director to hand over to another unknown person.
Wardhana also acted on Edo’s instructions to conceal the purpose of the payments to the company and instigated the director of the company to falsify four invoices from the company to Wirecard Asia to falsely describe the services purportedly provided to Wirecard Asia, including an invoice for the sum of $62,300 for “interim marketing intelligence reports”.
Wardhana received the money from the director and handed it over to others when he had reason to believe that it represented Edo’s benefits from criminal conduct.
Wardhana pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust, one count of abetting the falsification of accounts, and one count of money laundering by transferring benefits from criminal conduct. Another six counts of the abovementioned offences were taken into consideration for the purpose of Wardhana’s sentencing.
Chai Ai Lim
Chai, a 44-year-old Singapore citizen, was the Head of Finance at Wirecard Asia during the material time. Chai also reported to Edo.
Chai admitted that on 5 October 2018, she had conspired with Edo and another Wirecard Asia employee to commit criminal breach of trust against Wirecard Asia. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Chai arranged for $47,000 to be transferred from Wirecard Asia’s bank account to the employee as a purported employee loan, which Edo had in fact arranged for the employee to hand over to an unknown person.
Chai pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust. Another count of criminal breach of trust was taken into consideration for the purpose of Chai’s sentencing.
Edo is currently at large. A Warrant of Arrest and an INTERPOL Red Notice have been issued against Edo in connection with the abovementioned offences.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
20 June 2023 @ 12:35 PM