Training Facilitator From Biz HR Solutionz Pte Ltd Jailed For SkillsFuture Credit Abuse

31/07/2018

Training Facilitator From Biz HR Solutionz Pte Ltd Jailed For SkillsFuture Credit Abuse

35-year-old Yeo Junwei Joel, a freelance training facilitator for Biz HR Solutionz Pte Ltd (Biz HR), was sentenced to 7-weeks imprisonment for abuse of the SkillsFuture Credit (SFC) in 2016. Yeo is the last of the four individuals to be sentenced for this case.

Yeo faced 26 charges under Section 477A of the Penal Code (Chapter 224) for falsifying course attendance records for Biz HR. Yeo was hired by Zheng Zhenwei Eric, former director of Biz HR, as a freelance training facilitator in early 2016. Between February 2016 and 29 March 2016, Yeo signed off attendance records as the training facilitator at the behest of Zheng, knowing that he did not conduct the courses. Yeo assisted Zheng to sign on more attendance records for an audit conducted by then-Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) on Biz HR.

The other three individuals from Biz HR were convicted of the following Penal code offences:

On 27 February 2018, Zheng was sentenced to 36-months imprisonment. Zheng faced 150 charges under:
- Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code (Chapter 224) for instigating trainees to cheat then-WDA into disbursing SFC to Biz HR by submitting claims for courses which were not conducted
- Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code (Chapter 224) for conspiring with Tan Yu Sheng or Sim Chee Kiong to instigate trainees to cheat then-WDA into disbursing SFC to Biz HR for inflated claims
- Section 417 of the Penal Code (Chapter 224) for producing false course attendance records to then-WDA during its audit on Biz HR in 2016
On 19 December 2017, Tan Yu Sheng was sentenced to 8-months imprisonment, and Sim Chee Kiong was sentenced to 6-months imprisonment. Tan and Sim faced 22 and 18 charges respectively under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code (Chapter 224) for conspiring with Zheng to instigate trainees to cheat then-WDA into disbursing SFC to Biz HR for inflated claims.

Zheng, Tan and Sim had promoted Biz HR’s courses to their own contacts. They would offer a $200 cash incentive in exchange for their contacts’ SFC. Following Zheng’s instructions, Tan and Sim told their contacts that they would still receive the cash even if they did not attend the course.

Full restitution has been made by Zheng, Tan and Sim. Zheng made restitution of $63,250 to then-WDA. Tan and Sim made restitutions of $5,400 and $5,330 to then-WDA respectively. Yeo made restitution of $2,000 to the State.

Under the SkillsFuture Credit terms and conditions, users are not allowed to receive monies in excess of the amount of credit indicated in the application. As such, training providers offering SFC-eligible courses are not allowed to pay trainees monies from the trainees’ disbursed SFC, or enter into such agreements.

SSG takes a serious view of any individual, training provider or organisation that abuses its funding schemes, and will not hesitate to take action against those who contravene its funding rules and guidelines. This includes any individual who misleads another person in using their SFC. An individual who provides false information to SSG in relation to his/her application may be prosecuted under Section 58 of the SkillsFuture Singapore Agency Act 2016 and be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both. Feedback on such individuals or organisations can be directed to SSG at ssg.gov.sg/feedback.

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