MAS bans two former UOB, OCBC employees for fraud, dishonest conduct

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued prohibition orders (POs) against two former bank employees for fraud and dishonest conduct, following their convictions in the State Courts of Singapore. The POs took effect from Thursday.

The two individuals are former OCBC treasury advisor Lu Chor Sheng and former UOB relationship manager Timothy Tan Swee Thiam. Both court cases were not related, MAS said on Friday in a press statement.

Lu was convicted of abetment of cheating under the Penal Code, unauthorised modification of the contents of OCBC's system under the Computer Misuse Act and offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act. He was sentenced to 100 months' imprisonment.

Lu engaged in unauthorised trades between January 2011 and June 2013 which caused OCBC to suffer a total loss of about S$3.1 million. He made a profit of about S$1.1 million from his misconduct and used the monies to buy foreign currencies and repay debts.

Lu is prohibited from performing any regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) and from providing any financial advisory service under the Financial Advisers Act (FAA) for 17 years. He is also not allowed to take part in the management, act as a director or become a substantial shareholder of any capital market services firm under the SFA and any financial advisory firm under the FAA.

MAS has also slapped a nine-year PO against Tan, who was convicted of criminal breach of trust under the Penal Code and offences under the Computer Misuse Act. He was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment.

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Tan made unauthorised Internet bank transfers between March 2015 and January 2016 amounting to around S$263,500 from his friend's UOB account to his personal bank account in order to pay for his living expenses. The friend had entrusted her UOB bank accounts, Internet banking security token and UOB ATM card to him.

Tan is prohibited from performing any regulated activity under the SFA and from providing any financial advisory service under the FAA. He cannot take part in the management, act as a director or become a substantial shareholder of any capital market services firm under the SFA and any financial advisory firm under the FAA.