On 6 May 2022, 33-year-old Xu Shaowen and 32-year-old Lim De Xian of 7W Consultancy Pte Ltd (“7W Consultancy”) were charged in court for their suspected involvement in cheating and falsification related offences in respect to grant applications made under the Professional Conversion Programmes (“PCP”) offered by Workforce Singapore (“WSG”) and administered by the Singapore National Employers Federation (“SNEF”), a programme partner appointed by WSG.
PCPs help mid-career professionals, managers, executives and technicians undergo skills conversion and move into new occupations or sectors with opportunities for progression. The grant pay-outs include course fee subsidies and a salary support grant which is computed based on the employee’s monthly salary.
In December 2017, Lim De Xian, who is the sole-director and shareholder of 7W Consultancy, had allegedly conspired with Xu Shaowen, a shareholder of the company, to cheat SNEF into disbursing grants amounting to $13,995 through the submission of a false PCP application in Xu Shaowen’s name. The duo had allegedly falsified employment contract and payslips in the PCP application to falsely represent that Xu Shaowen was paid a monthly salary of $5,800.
In April 2018, the duo had also allegedly conspired with a former employee of 7W Consultancy to submit another PCP application which falsely represented that the latter was paid a monthly salary of $5,600. Xu Shaowen is also alleged to have falsified an employment contract to support the application. This application was subsequently withdrawn, and no disbursement was made.
Those convicted of the stated offences may face the following punishments:
a. The offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev. Ed.) (“Penal Code”) carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine. The offence of attempted cheating under Section 420 read with Section 116 of the Penal Code is punishable with one-fourth of that; and/or
b. The offence of falsification of accounts under Section 477A of the Penal Code is punishable with an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, or with fine, or both.
The Police take a serious stance against the abuse of Government grants. Offenders will be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.
Source: Singapore Police Force