SINGAPORE: A former Wirecard Asia employee was given a 10-week prison term on Tuesday, October 10, for aiding her superiors in robbing the German-registered international payment services company’s subsidiary of$ 47, 000 ( US$ 34, 400 ).
Singaporean See Lee Wee, 30, entered a guilty plea to one count of unlawful breach of trust after taking into account two counts of money laundering.
Her attorneys claimed that she was a young fund executive who carried out the directives of Wirecard Asia vice-president of controlling and foreign financing Edo Kurniawan, her immediate supervisor and the alleged mastermind.
Edo escaped Singapore before being apprehended and is currently on the run with a dark Interpol notice.
See, also known as Krystal, was in charge of financial planning and research for Wirecard companies in the Asia-Pacific area while working as a controlling director for the company.
Irene Chai Ai Lim, the fund head at Wirecard Asia at the time, was one of the co-accusations she made. Chai then informed Edo.
In October 2018, Edo asked Chai if the company had any funds available and informed her that he needed to transfer$ 100,000 for a person named” India.”
After Chai confirmed this, Edo went up to See and demanded money right away. He requested that she borrow money from Wirecard Asia, remove it, and then give it to him right away.
See would not have to worry about paying back the loan because Edo assured her that the” loan” would be transformed into a” bonus” for her.
See did not inquire of Edo about the transfer’s function because he was unaware of it. She agreed despite feeling uneasy.
Chai made arrangements for S$ 47, 000 to get transferred from See’s personal bank account to Wirecard Asia.
See withdrew the majority of the money and gave it to an unnamed person and to Edo in accordance with his directions. She kept on S$ 3,440 in her own profile and spent it however she saw fit.
The” loan” was never paid back and never turned into a bonus.
See afterwards gave Wirecard Asia about S$ 18,000, while Chai gave the business a distinct S$ 70,000 compensation.
In June, Chai admitted guilt to her involvement in the case and received a 10-month prison term.
Given that See was less guilty than Chai, assistant open counsel Vincent Koh asked for three to five months in jail.
JUNIOR LEARNING THE ROPES: DEFENSE
Instead, attorney Derek Kang requested a maximum sentence of two months in prison, claiming that Chai could have given the order to any other young staff.
In fact, Chai could have completed it on her own, but she” didn’t want to get her hands ugly ,” he claimed.
While See, a young finance employee, was conscious that what she was doing was bad, Mr. Kang said, it must be remembered that she had previously participated in similar transactions within the company.
He claimed that she carried out the unlawful deal at the direction of her bosses and supervisors, from whom she had picked up the necessary skills.
According to Mr. Kang, it was quite obvious that See and the other young staff members had been manipulated by the main people in relation to the criminal activity.
According to Mr. Kang,” They were forced to follow what their leaders told them to do because if they did no, their individual jobs would be at danger.”
Three years ago, the Wirecard incident broke out after its listener refused to sign off on 2019 records after being unable to confirm€ 1.9 billion($ US$ 2.07 billion) that was allegedly held worldwide in escrow by third-party lovers. & nbsp,
The prosecutor acknowledged that See was only the” arms and legs” of the program but also noted that the amount of cash taken was” not inconsequential.”
In what has been dubbed Germany’s biggest post-war fraud, leading professionals, including former chief executive Markus Braun, are accused of fraud and industry use.
In order to deceive lenders and investors, Braun’s defendants in the Munich trial against Braun were accused of fabricating ghost income through fictitious dealings with partner companies.