Ex-bank manager gets 3 months' jail for faking signature
Zul Othman
zul@mediacorp.com.sg
FORMER bank employee Wendy Tan Law Ling faked a client's signature on bank documents, thinking it was the right thing to do after bungling a deal worth several million dollars.
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Her actions, which she had regarded as harmless, were serious enough to land her in prison. Yesterday, the 29-year-old was sentenced to jail for three months, after admitting to 11 counts of forgery.
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In July last year, while Tan was a senior relationship manager with DBS Bank, she forged the signature of her Malaysian client Gan Hey Fan on some letters relating to the acquisition of 3.15 million units in Barclays Equity Selected Income Fund (Esif).
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As part of her job advising clients about their investments, court documents stated, Tan had gone to Kuala Lumpur on July 2 last year to meet Ms Gan and her friend Rebecca Tan Lay Lay.
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After the meeting, Ms Gan told the accused she would place $3 million in a fixed deposit account and another $3 million in the Esif.
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A few days later, Ms Rebecca Tan told Tan that her friend was ready to transfer $5 million to a DBS account.
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The latter was instructed to place $3 million in the Esif and $2 million into a fixed deposit account.
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Tan forwarded a pre-signed application for the opening of a current account to her colleague — but on July 4, she discovered her colleague had opened a savings account.
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A day later, Ms Gan transferred $5 million into that savings account.
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On July 7, Tan submitted a unit transaction form to the bank, showing that $3 million worth of Barclays Asian Real Estate Income Fund (Areif) had been purchased instead of Esif.
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It was not clear from the court documents why Tan had submitted a form indicating that Ms Gan had bought the former fund, instead of the Esif she had wanted.
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On the same day, Tan keyed the Areif trades into DBS' Unit Trust System, indicating that Ms Gan had bought the shares.
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Tan later forged Ms Gan's signature on the bank records to cover up the mistake on the bank accounts.
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The irregularities were later discovered by another DBS employee, who lodged a police report on Aug 10 last year.
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In court yesterday, Tan — who had confessed to the forgeries during investigations — stood in the dock and wept silently as the judge passed the sentence.
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In mitigation, lawyer Rajah Retnam said Tan, who was dressed in black, had no intention of cheating the bank as she had only committed the act to facilitate her client's needs.
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She did not profit from the act, he added.
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District Judge John Ng noted that the charges were serious as Tan had betrayed the trust of her employer and her client.
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However, when passing the sentence, he also took into account that this was Tan's first brush with the law and that she did not derive any material gain from the crime.
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The judge also had a few words of advice for Tan, who has been working as a private tutor since her dismissal.
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"You're still young. After serving the sentence, you have to pick yourself up and rebuild your life," he told her.
'Harmless forgery' lands her in prison 
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