A Singapore-based accountant who embezzled more than S$41 million (approx. $30.2 million) over a ten-year period to fuel his excessive gambling habit was sentenced to 25 years and 10 months in prison earlier today.
Born in Malaysia but residing in Singapore, Ewe Pang Kooi, 65, was found guilty of 50 charges of breach of trust as an agent. He misappropriated a “massive” amount of money between February 2002 and July 2012 while holding three roles in Singapore – as a companies’ liquidator, as a receiver for the assets of a client and as an agent to operate companies’ bank accounts.
Ewe was a certified public accountant and a liquidator. He was a managing partner at accounting firm Ewe, Locke & Partners and a director of tax and financial consulting firm E&M Management Consultants.
Justice Chan Seng Onn said today that Ewe was “driven by an insatiable appetite for gambling” and that “one man’s gambling habit came at a great price for many.”
Ewe was able to deposit back more than S$17 million of the stolen money, but the remaining S$24 million is yet to be recovered.
The errant accountant could have been jailed for life and ordered to pay a massive fine for criminal breach of trust. Over the course of the trial, the prosecution asked for a 30-year sentence, while the defense maintained that between 12 and 18 years would be a reasonable sentence.
The judge said today that Ewe cooperated fully during investigations and did not dispute facts in court, which saved investigative authorities a significant amount of time and resources.
How It Happened
Ewe misappropriated the funds he was entrusted with for his personal benefit and to fuel his gambling habit. His crimes affected 21 companies that had tapped him as a liquidator, including six subsidiaries of tech giant Hewlett-Packard.
As a liquidator, Ewe had access and control over bank accounts and assets of its clients, so he could make payments to creditors and recover the assets of the entities in liquidation. He moved funds between companies to prevent his crimes from being discovered and then gambled the money away at casinos.
His elaborate scheme was eventually discovered by Hewlett-Packard when the company chased him about assets from liquidation. He was forced to admit that he had misappropriated funds.
Psychiatrists who assessed Ewe said that he was a “pathological gambler” and his condition prompted him to treat his clients’ funds as they were his own. The stealing accountant was found to have bet large amounts of up to S$150,000 at casinos for a “kick.”
Ewe said in court that he did not reap any financial benefit crimes and hi did not amass wealth. However, as a patron of Resorts World Sentosa’s casino floor, the accountant was treated to a “permanent” hotel room at the resort and “sufficient points to sustain a comfortable life,” it became known.
The presiding judge said today that he recognized the need for “the court to come down harshly on the accused so as to deter like-minded offenders who […] are given access to large sums of money which may be misappropriate for their personal gain.”
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