Monday, January 10, 2011

Two Filipino women jailed for conspiracy to cheat Standard Chartered Bank.

A branch of Standard Chartered Bank, located a...

Two Filipino women were jailed in Singapore for being part of a conspiracy to cheat Standard Chartered Bank.

One of them, Charon Legaspi Dimpas, was sentenced to 45 months behind bars for cheating the bank of nearly $760,000.

The 26-year-old former direct sales agent from telemarketing company, Touch & Tech, committed the offence between June and November 2009.

She pleaded guilty on Monday to eight charges while 88 other similar ones were taken into consideration.

The other woman, 39-year-old Maria Theresa Arenas Garcia, was sentenced to six months' jail for being part of the ruse.

Touch & Tech had been engaged by the bank to make calls to prospective applicants to market the unsecured credit facilities it offered.

Dimpas became part of a syndicate that illegally helped foreigners obtain the loans from the bank even though they were not eligible.

She forged her applicants' payslips by inflating their monthly incomes above the stipulated $60,000.

The court heard that their annual income has to be at least that amount to be eligible for the bank's credit facilities.

And because foreigners holding employment passes must have a minimum of one-year validity remaining on their working papers, Dimpas also forged letters of extension for employment to assist her applicants.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang told the court that Dimpas earned a commission of more than $8,000 from her 96 successful applications using the forged documents.

Ms Huang added that Dimpas was allegedly encouraged to do so by her former boss, Singaporean Abdul Karim Baba, who too was entitled to commissions and bonuses from the submissions to the bank.

It's believed Abdul Karim, 60, also helped check the forged documents and allegedly suggested to his subordinates, who were part of the scam, to darken the font and include some smudges to the forged documents to make them appear authentic.

Most of Dimpas' applicants were believed to be referrals provided by a 28-year-old Filipino technician, Mark Robert Fajilan Landicho. The latter is believed to have attracted applicants by placing an advertisement on a Filipino community online portal.

A post on pinoysg allegedly put up by him stated that he could help them process their applications for loans and credit cards from Standard Chartered Bank even if they did not earn the stipulated income.

It's believed he received $75 for each successful application.

Both Landicho and Abdul Karim have already been charged for allegedly taking part in the scam.

Garcia, one of the many applicants, submitted forged payslips and a bogus letter of extension for employment. In doing so, the administrative operation executive deceived the bank into giving her a loan of $10,500.

For the offences, the women could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined on each charge.

Link from the subordinate court hearing their case.

image

3 comments:

  1. never thought to hear her name again in such a situation...

    ReplyDelete
  2. can you please delete now this article sentenced was already made..thank you

    ReplyDelete