Two men, aged 30 and 59, will be charged in court on 30 July 2024 for their suspected involvement in cheating offences in relation to grants under the Jobs Support Scheme (“JSS”), administered by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (“IRAS”).
The 30-year-old man will also be charged for cheating offences in relation to grants under the E-Commerce Booster Package, administered by Enterprise Singapore (“EnterpriseSG”).
The Government supports the operations of local entities, including support for employees’ wages, through the two grants. Under the JSS, the Government co-funded 25% to 75% of the gross monthly wages paid to each local employee through cash grants. To ensure that JSS payouts were fairly and correctly disbursed, IRAS conducted reviews of higher risk cases using data analytics and information provided by the public. It could adjust or deny the payouts to employers who were unable to substantiate their eligibility. Under the E-Commerce Booster Package, grants were given to support the cost for companies to go on board e-commerce platforms and strengthen their digital marketing capabilities. It included support of up to 90% of the qualifying costs, and wage support of up to three employees for three months. Both schemes were time-limited and have since ended.
The 30-year-old man was a director of two companies. He had allegedly submitted false information on his employees’ wages to IRAS and EnterpriseSG to obtain the JSS and E-Commerce Booster Package grants respectively for both companies. The JSS grants for both entities were withheld while the EBP grants had been disbursed.
For the first company, the 30-year-old man was alleged to have attempted to cheat IRAS into disbursing $30,188 in JSS grants, with the help of the 59-year-old man, by deceiving IRAS that 10 employees were paid full salaries in May 2020. This was allegedly false as the employees were required to pay back their salaries to the 30-year-old man. The 59-year-old man had allegedly assisted in the fraud by funding the CPF contributions for the inflated salaries of these employees so that they would qualify for the JSS payouts.
For the second company, the 30-year-old man was alleged to have attempted to cheat IRAS into disbursing $3,375 in JSS grants by falsely declaring that an individual, who was not an employee, had worked for the company in May 2020.
In addition, for both companies, the 30-year-old man was alleged to have cheated EnterpriseSG into disbursing a total of $33,120 in E-Commerce Booster Package grants, by falsely declaring in April and May 2021 that wages were paid to the employees in 2020 and 2021.
The offences of (i) cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code, (ii) attempted cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code read with Section 512 of the Penal Code, and (iii) engaging in a conspiracy to cheat under Section 420 of the Penal Code read with Section 116 of the Penal Code, each carry an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, and a fine.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
29 July 2024 @ 6:40 PM