SINGAPORE: A warehouse supervisor who took loans of S$1 million (US$748,000) to repay his losses from gambling and cryptocurrency turned to taking SK-II products from his company and selling them to his own buyers.
Singaporean Foo You Ann, 50, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ jail on Tuesday (May 2). He pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust by dishonest misappropriation.
The court heard that Foo worked as a warehouse supervisor at Luxury Ventures (Beauty) for about two years.
He was stationed at Hotel Michael in Sentosa and was the only person at the warehouse, in charge of receiving the goods and sending them to stores.
In early September 2022, Foo lost money in gambling and cryptocurrency and took loans amounting to S$1 million to repay his debts.
He decided to take products from the warehouse and sell them to earn money, as he knew that the company had just done a stock take in August and the next one would take place in December.
Foo knew two buyers who were selling beauty products online, so he contacted them to ask if they wanted any products from SK-II. After reaching an agreement, he would meet the buyers at the hotel lobby and pass them the items in exchange for cash or payment via bank transfer.
From September 2022 to Nov 17, 2022, Foo took nearly S$698,000 in SK-II products from the warehouse. He received about S$150,000 to S$250,000 from the two buyers, and used the money on repaying debts or other personal uses like gambling.
The crimes were uncovered when an assistant manager went to the warehouse and realised that some products were not in their boxes. When she asked Foo if the boxes had been empty before arriving at the warehouse, he did not answer.
Foo then asked the assistant manager to check with the general manager if he could buy the boxes from the company at a cheaper price.
The assistant manager told the general manager, who confronted Foo. Foo admitted to the offences and the police were called in. No restitution was made.
The prosecutor asked for four-and-a-half to five years’ jail for Foo. He has convictions dating as far back as 1988, for offences like affray, theft, cheating and drug possession.
Foo, who was remanded, asked for leniency through a Mandarin interpreter. He told the court that he was an only son, and his mother is more than 70 years old.
“She is staying alone. She has been in and out of hospital and she requires my MediSave for her hospital bills,” said Foo.
“I’m pleading for your leniency for light sentence so that I can take care of my mother as soon as I’ve finished serving my sentence.”