By SINGAPORE — A 33-year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident, has been convicted of cheating offences related to the Professional Conversion Programmes (PCP) offered by Workforce Singapore (WSG).
On 8 March 2023, Lim De Xian, a Malaysian, was found guilty of two counts of abetment by conspiracy to cheat under Section 417 read with Section 109, and Section 417 read with Section 116 of the Penal Code respectively, and sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment.
Two other charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing. Lim’s co-accused, Xu Shaowen, a Singaporean, was earlier sentenced to 13 weeks imprisonment on 9 November 2022 for his involvement in the case.
The PCP is a program that assists mid-career professionals in undergoing skills conversion to move into new occupations or sectors with opportunities for progression. The program provides grant pay-outs, including course fee subsidies and a salary support grant based on the employee’s monthly salary.
At the time of the offences, Lim was the sole-director and shareholder of 7W Consultancy Pte Ltd. He pleaded guilty to conspiring with Xu to submit a fraudulent PCP funding application to Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) for Xu.
The duo falsely declared Xu’s gross monthly salary from 7W Consultancy as S$5,800, deceiving SNEF into disbursing the PCP funding of S$13,995. 7W Consultancy has since made full restitution of S$13,995 to Workforce Singapore.
In April 2018, Lim conspired with Xu to submit another fraudulent PCP funding application for 32-year-old China national Chen Xian Yi, an information technology manager and a shareholder of the company.
Xu falsely declared the employee’s gross monthly salary as S$5,600 in the application form, but no disbursement was made as the application was subsequently withdrawn.
The police have warned that they take a serious stance against the abuse of government grants and will deal with offenders severely in accordance with the law.