Ex-OCBC officer charged with forging clients' documents, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Ex-OCBC officer charged with forging clients' documents

This article is more than 12 months old

A former bank officer allegedly forged income tax documents to make his clients look as if they were earning a higher annual income or had enough cash to qualify for housing loans.

Yesterday, Paul Liew Ziguang, 30, was charged with 13 counts of forgery for the purpose of cheating, involving 11 clients and housing loans totalling $7.7 million.

Liew was a mortgage specialist with OCBC Bank when he allegedly forged customers' Inland Revenue Authority (Iras) notices of assessment and other documents to deceive the bank into believing that the clients met regulatory requirements in their applications for home loans.

The alleged offences occurred between March 2014 and March 2015.

The customers had applied for loans of between $244,000 and $1.2 million.

Liew, who had no lawyer, indicated that he wished to plead guilty but told District Judge Christopher Goh that he intended to appoint a lawyer.

His case will be mentioned on Nov 23.

A police bail of $20,000 has been extended until then.

An OCBC spokesman said: "We take a serious view of such conduct. After we discovered the fraud, we reported the matter to the police and took all necessary steps to address it. We have since introduced additional measures to prevent future occurrences."

The maximum penalty for forgery for the purpose of cheating is 10 years' jail and a fine. 

 

COURT & CRIMEFraud