SINGAPORE – While she was the personal assistant to the head of an interior design company, Shereen Banu Shahul Hameed transferred more than $350,000 from the firm to her bank accounts.
On Monday, the 36-year-old was sentenced to 26 months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust by employees and one count of cheating by personation. Two other charges were taken into consideration during her sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Ee Hsiun said Shereen Banu joined Elliot James in 2015 as the personal assistant to its chief executive Elliot James Barratt.
Her responsibilities included paying suppliers, taking care of financial submissions such as goods and services tax payments, and handling miscellaneous matters for Mr Barratt.
To carry out her duties, she was entrusted with the Internet banking user names and passwords to its two bank accounts as well as the funds in the accounts.
She was able to perform some transactions using the company’s bank accounts on her own, but needed a one-time password from Mr Barratt for other activities.
Between March 7, 2018 and March 30, 2021, she made fraudulent transactions from the company accounts to her personal bank accounts. These included transferring $146,261.19 between Jan 21 and Dec 23 in 2020, and $81,942.15 between March 7 and Dec 18 in 2018.
DPP Chong said Shereen Banu disguised these transactions, such as by creating entries for fictitious suppliers in the company bank accounts.
In March 2021, a director from Elliot James decided to check its finances and tried to schedule a meeting with its external accountant, Ecovis Bizcorp.
The director asked Shereen Banu to arrange a meeting with Ecovis, but she said its people were unavailable.
She set up a fake e-mail address and, pretending to be an accountant from Ecovis, she e-mailed the director, telling him that the accountants were unable to meet him. He later decided to call the accountants on his own and found out that they had been trying to get hold of Mr Barratt as they had noticed many discrepancies in the accounts.
Mr Barratt did an in-depth check, changed the Internet banking passwords and froze Shereen Banu’s e-mail account.
Apart from the criminal breach of trust offences, she pretended to be a senior financial consultant with an insurance company after Mr Barratt’s son met with an accident. She e-mailed her boss using a fake e-mail address, saying the insurance company would cover the medical fees.
However, this was not true. She had been tasked with securing insurance policies for Mr Barratt’s son but had not done so. She sent the e-mails to cover her mistake.
As a result, Mr Barratt did not pay the hospital bill, which totalled $138,934.68, and DPP Chong said this was likely to cause harm to his reputation and property.
For each charge of criminal breach of trust by an employee, Shereen Banu, who has made partial restitution of $49,500, could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
For cheating by personation, she could have been jailed for up to five years, fined or both.
ALSO READ: My Digital Lock's ex-worker jailed for cheating customers of over $24k
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
