A former director of the Fullerton Healthcare brand was fined S$160,000 (US$124,000) on Thursday after admitting to approving inflated expense claims, though he was cleared of corruption charges tied to the case, which has also embroiled a former Aon Singapore chief executive.
David Sin, 46, pleaded guilty to six counts of falsifying accounts involving more than S$213,000, according to a report by Channel News Asia. He was acquitted of five corruption charges and two additional counts of falsification after prosecutors withdrew them. The judge’s order prevents those charges from being revived.
Sin, who has since been declared bankrupt, was allowed to pay the fine in installments. He is the first of four men implicated in the case to be sentenced.
Prosecutors said Sin approved entertainment expense claims in 2019 that were knowingly inflated, with falsified receipts overstating costs by more than S$200,000. The payments were linked to a wider scheme in which company executives allegedly used fake invoices to channel money for bribes.
Former Aon Singapore chief executive Collin Chiew, along with Fullerton Healthcare group CEO Michael Tan and deputy CEO Daniel Chan, still face trial on corruption-related charges. Prosecutors allege Chan used the inflated claims to pay bribes to Chiew, with Tan accused of conspiring in the arrangement. Their trials are scheduled to begin in September.
Sin joined Fullerton Healthcare as an investor in 2013 and later became its president. In court, prosecutors argued he failed in his duty as a director by approving claims he knew were false, though they noted he was not the mastermind and did not personally profit. They sought a fine between S$150,000 and S$180,000.
Defense lawyers urged a lighter penalty, arguing Sin had been misled by Tan and Chan and trusted them to handle operations. They pointed to his cooperation with investigators and his role in initiating internal reviews of the company’s finances after irregularities were flagged by auditors.
District Judge Paul Quan said Sin showed poor corporate governance but also demonstrated remorse. He noted that Sin pushed for investigations that ultimately implicated him, a factor that slightly reduced his sentence.
Chiew, Tan and Chan remain before the courts.
