SINGAPORE – A man who billed Tampines Town Council for more expensive products instead of the actual items he had provided, tricking it into paying an extra $233,000 for water pumps, was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on May 13.
Zhang Shuyan, 59, who was the managing director of electrical and mechanical maintenance and installation firm FYH Integrated at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty in April to one count of falsifying accounts to the town council.
Before handing down the sentence on May 13, District Judge Kenneth Chin noted that the Singaporean had made full restitution and paid the bulk of it before he was charged.
However, the judge stressed that Zhang’s case involved public funds and that he committed the offence over a sustained period of a year.
Deputy public prosecutors David Koh and Yeow Xuan stated in court documents that the offender and his wife incorporated the firm in 2009 with $500,000.
It later entered into a three-year contract with Tampines Town Council in February 2016 for jobs related to pumps and refuse chute flushing systems.
FYH was responsible for the maintenance, servicing and repair of pumps in the Housing Board blocks within the town council’s purview. It was also contracted to replace defective pumps in the HDB blocks.
The contract included a schedule of rates, with a list of items and their corresponding prices, that FYH would bill the town council for.
Between April 2016 and July 2017, Zhang’s firm replaced 267 single-stage water pumps in the Tampines estate.
Zhang, however, billed the products as multi-stage water pumps that cost more than $1,400 each, compared with a single-stage pump that cost around $550.
The town council received 203 invoices for the replacement of the pumps and paid more than $380,000 to FYH.
Zhang’s scheme came to light in 2017, after the town council’s managing agent realised FYH had been charging it for multi-stage pumps even though only single-stage pumps were used.
After he was found out, Zhang agreed to refund the extra amount that the town council had paid out to his company, which was more than $233,000.
He was later charged in 2024.
Offenders found guilty of falsifying accounts can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
- Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.
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