Jail for man who let friend make fake insurance claims

An insurance agent allowed a friend, who was then working with a similar company, to make fraudulent claims, and the company was then duped into paying out more than $1.88 million in total.

- Shaffiq Alkhatib

Benjamin Song Junde, 40, who was working with Manulife (Singapore) at the time, was sentenced to a year, six months and two weeks' jail on Oct 3. He had pleaded guilty to three counts of cheating and a money laundering charge. Eight other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Song derived nearly $470,000 in personal gain from the offences linked to the three proceeded cheating charges.

At the time of the offences, his friend, Charn Sze Choong, 38, was working as a claims assessor with Prudential Assurance Co Singapore. His case is pending.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Louis Ngia told the court that the pair were friends from their national service days and Song acted as a "bookie" for Charn's gambling activities.