Man admits to forging Grab receipts to make over $16,000 worth of claims

SINGAPORE — On more than 460 occasions, a man forged Grab receipts and sent them to his company, causing the firm to disburse over $16,400 to him.

He also made false medical certificates and an electronic letter purportedly from the Singapore Armed Forces, causing the Ministry of Health (MOH), where he worked as a temporary staff, to excuse him from reporting for work.

On Nov 12, Muhammad Fariz Shaik Sha Marican, 33, pleaded guilty to two forgery charges. Two other similar charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelly Ng said that Fariz was employed by recruitment firm Persolkelly (PSK), which worked with MOH to provide manpower.

Fariz was deployed by PSK in November 2021 to work as a temporary staff for MOH to support the ministry's Covid-19 operations.

In April 2023, MOH checked on Fariz's annual leave balance as the ministry wanted to convert him into a staff member.

"It was then discovered that for the past few months, there had been discrepancies in the timesheets and transport claims submitted by the accused to MOH and to PSK, namely, the figures submitted to PSK were higher than that submitted to MOH," said DPP Ng.

[[nid:678746]]

PSK and MOH both filed police reports and investigations revealed that Fariz had, on 228 occasions between July 2022 and April 2023, forged Grab receipts for rides he claimed to have taken.

He did so by digitally altering the date and time on existing Grab receipts, despite not having taken the rides stated in these receipts. He then submitted the forged receipts to PSK, causing the firm to disburse a total of $9,526.60 to him. 

Between December 2021 and June 2022, on 234 occasions, Fariz also made similar false Grab receipts, duping PSK into disbursing over $6,900 to him.

On eight occasions between July 2022 and April 2023, he also made false timesheets by filling the forms up with extra days and hours to claim that he had worked overtime.

He then copied and pasted the signature of a previous supervisor into the timesheets and submitted them to PSK, duping the firm into disbursing over $7,700 to him. 

In May 2023, after Fariz found out that he was being investigated for the forged receipts and timesheets he submitted, he wrote to MOH admitting to what he did.

He resigned the next month and was arrested in July that year.

Seeking a jail term of six to eight months, DPP Ng said Fariz's offending took place over a significant period of 18 months and involved over $24,000 parted with by PSK.

"Each time the accused forged a receipt or timesheet, he had to put in the deliberate effort of altering it digitally or filling it up with extra days or hours, and each time he did this, he had the opportunity to stop his offending. Instead, he did not do so," said the prosecutor.

In mitigation, defence lawyer Derek Tan said his client was a first-time offender and has made full restitution to PSK.

When District Judge Christopher Goh asked Tan what Fariz did with the money, the lawyer said his client did not spend the money on personal items and did not commit the acts for financial gain.

But the judge noted that the offences were committed for financial gain, despite Fariz not spending the money.

District Judge Goh said he needed time to deliberate, and adjourned sentencing to Nov 28.

[[nid:659635]]

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.