SINGAPORE, May 13 — A 59-year-old man was sentenced to three weeks’ jail today for deceiving Tampines Town Council into overpaying S$233,000 (RM773,000) for water pumps by submitting inflated invoices.
Zhang Shuyan, the former managing director of maintenance firm FYH Integrated, pleaded guilty in April to falsifying accounts by billing the town council for higher-priced multi-stage pumps instead of the actual single-stage units provided, according to a report published in The Straits Times today.
District Judge Kenneth Chin noted Zhang had made full restitution, with most of the repayment completed before he was charged, but stressed the offence involved public funds and was committed over more than a year.
Court documents revealed Zhang and his wife founded FYH Integrated in 2009 with S$500,000, and in February 2016 secured a three-year contract with Tampines Town Council to service and replace water pumps and refuse chute systems in HDB blocks.
From April 2016 to July 2017, FYH replaced 267 single-stage pumps, which cost about S$550 each, but billed the council as if multi-stage pumps — priced over S$1,400 — had been installed.
The council paid more than S$380,000 based on 203 invoices before the discrepancy was discovered in 2017 by the town council’s managing agent.
Zhang subsequently agreed to refund the overpaid amount, which exceeded S$233,000, and was formally charged in 2024.
The offence of falsifying accounts carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine.