Food Court Employee in Tanjong Pagar Resigned & Left Letter to Say He Has Stolen $37K From the Company

I don’t think you need a media company to tell you what you already know: stealing is bad. Period.

On Thursday (25 Mar), 52-year-old Lee Chun Beng was jailed for two years and three months for stealing S$37,000 from the food court he worked at. He was charged with criminal breach of trust by an employee.

The man had spent S$3,000 on a plane ticket for his Vietnamese wife to return home and had gambled the rest away.

Lee worked as a manager for SG Eat Food Court at 100AM mall. His daily work included collecting daily cash sales proceeds and depositing them into the company’s bank account, as well as managing the cash float.

He was the only one with access to the safe drawer which contained the cash float monies.

What led him to steal the money?

The realisation that he was not eligible for the S$3,000 financial aid from the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

Between 13 and 18 November 2020, he stole a total of S$37,151 of the cash sale proceeds and cash float monies.

The next day, he notified his company director that he was on medical leave. On 20 November, he resigned and became uncontactable.

When the company director went to check the safe drawer, he found the note written by Lee, who admitted his actions. The director then filed a police report.

On 11 January 2021, Lee surrendered himself at the Bukit Merah East Neighbourhood Police Centre. He has not made any restitution for the stolen cash.

Multiple Past Convictions

As reported by CNA, Lee had previous convictions in 1996, 2000 and 2013 for similar offences such as cheating and criminal breach of trust.

In 2013, he was jailed for one year and four months after cheating victims of their money. He promoted false job offers and took off with their cash meant for air tickets when they accepted it.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan Yen Seow had asked for 30 months’ jail in light of his past transgressions.

Lee, who had no lawyer, said he was deeply remorseful for his actions and wanted another chance to “live a life with purpose and responsibility”.

He added that he thought he would receive the financial aid package, but took to stealing as that was not the case. He had plans to return it later.

However, he was unable to do so and began gambling to try to win money to put it back at work.

Lee pleaded guilty and apologised for his actions, saying, ”I’m very sorry for my mistake…Without this pandemic, my girlfriend also (won’t) need to go back to Vietnam. Unfortunately, there’s no excuse for the mistake I’ve done, I will bear the consequences.”

For criminal breach of trust by an employee, he could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.

Featured Image: Bonma Suriya / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)