Childcare Centre Director & 2 Employees To Be Charged For Cheating Government Agency

The promise of money can make people do stupid things.

Collecting face masks using stolen information, for one, comes to mind.

Scams have also been on the rise lately, with swindlers also choosing to telecommute.

Now, it seems that three workers in the childcare industry had turned to the scamming sector as well, but instead of going for ordinary residents, they tried to scam the government. 

Needless to say, it didn’t end well for them.

Childcare Centre Director & 2 Employees To Be Charged For Cheating Government Agency

Today (17 March), the former director of Faith Educare, a now-defunct chain of childcare centres, and two of her former employees were charged with cheating the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).

Josephine Tan Poh Choo, 53, Arulnandam Rajeswary, 53, and 42-year-old Fatimah Bivee Mohd Shariff had cheated the agency into giving grants for children who were not enrolled in the school at the time.

The grant in question is the Child Care Subsidies Scheme, which the ECDA administers.

Under the scheme, ECDA-licensed childcare centres can apply for subsidies to defray pre-school expenses for Singaporean children.

At the time of the offences, the three women submitted 16 claims confirming the attendance of eight children at their childcare centres between January 2016 and August 2016.

The ECDA disbursed payouts of S$4,800.

The only problem was that these children were not even enrolled in the school yet, meaning all 16 claims were false. 

In a statement, ECDA said it detected irregularities in Faith Educare’s subsidy claims in August 2016 and referred the matter to the police.

The children in the claims were listed under names like Jayden, Janel, Kyzer and Gwenice, but the authorities discovered that they did not attend Faith Educare Centre at all or had not yet started their enrolment.

What the three women perhaps didn’t know, is that when ECDA disburses such subsidies, there are checks in place to “ensure the proper use and accountability of government monies.”

Could Face Up to 10 Years’ Jail

ECDA said it has since recovered all the money that it had paid out.

The agency added that it takes a serious view of individuals or licensees that misuse government funding and will not hesitate to take action against those who breach the Early Childhood Development Centres Act and Regulations.

As for the three woman, they could be in a whole heap of trouble. They did cheat a government agency, after all.

If convicted of their offences, the three women could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both.

Feature Image: chuchiko17i / Shutterstock.com