Singapore man jailed four years after siphoning S$550,000 from late brother’s estate to gamble, buy stocks

SINGAPORE, May 9 — When Tan Siong Choon’s older brother died in a traffic accident, the other man’s daughter agreed to relinquish her rights to administer his estate and deal with his assets.

Tan was then required to distribute his sibling’s assets in accordance with the law.

Instead of doing so, Tan misappropriated S$550,000 (RM2.4 million) from the estate account by purchasing penny stocks, gambling at Singapore Pools and using the money for his personal expenses.

On Friday (May 6), the 62-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to four years’ jail after pleading guilty to a single charge of criminal breach of trust. Another charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.

He has not made any restitution to the family of his brother Tan Seng Kiam.

The court heard that the older Tan died in November 2012, leaving behind his ex-wife and daughter who was aged about 27 at the time. He had ceased all contact with them in 2000.

When relaying news of his brother’s death, Tan told his niece that the estate had to be administered and his assets distributed.

Tan added that they could either jointly administer the estate, or she could renounce her right to do so and allow him to take over sole administration. She agreed to the second option.

But after he obtained authorisation to administer his brother’s estate on his own in April 2013, Tan violated the Intestate Succession Act by misusing the other man’s assets, the court further heard.

For example, after closing his brother’s bank account, he opened another one for the estate and spent about S$15,000 for legitimate purposes like funeral expenses.

However, Tan secretly tapped funds from the estate for his personal expenses. He spent S$150,000 on gambling and also used a cheque of S$23,500 from the sale of his brother’s car to gamble and buy shares.

From July 2013 to April 2014, he repeatedly withdrew sums from the estate bank account, depositing the cheques into his own account.

He continued withdrawing money till December 2016, leaving the estate’s account with a balance of about S$3,100 as of October 2019.

He did not explain to his brother’s daughter how he had dealt with or distributed the assets.

In late 2019, she commenced examination of judgement debtor proceedings against him in the High Court. This is when the court can order a party to pay a sum of money to another party in civil claims.

Tan then admitted in a court affidavit that he had misappropriated his brother’s assets, prompting her to file a police report in August 2020.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Etsuko Lim sought four to five years’ jail, arguing that the case involved an “unprecedented amount” in a single charge.

She also cited aggravating factors like Tan’s “profound” abuse of trust.

As an estate administrator, he was a trustee who owed fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries. His brother’s daughter had also trusted that he would administer the estate properly, only to learn six years later that he failed to do so, DPP Lim said.

Because of Tan’s offences, his niece was deprived of her due inheritance and was forced to spend time and money on taking him to court. As an only child, she was entitled to the entirety of her father’s estate, the prosecutor noted.

DPP Lim argued: “The sum… that the accused squandered could easily have tided (his niece), who is a housewife, through a substantial period of her retirement.”

For criminal breach of trust, he could have been jailed for up to seven years or fined, or punished with both. — TODAY