Nadine Chua
The Straits Times
November 12, 2024

On more than 460 occasions, a man forged Grab receipts and sent them to his company, causing the company to pay him more than $16,400.

He also forged medical certificates and an e-mail purported to be from the Singapore Armed Forces, prompting the Ministry of Health (MOH), where he worked as temporary staff, to excuse him from reporting for work.

On November 12, Muhammad Fariz Shaik Sha Marican, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery. Two other similar charges will be considered during sentencing.

Deputy public prosecutor Kelly Ng said Fariz was employed by recruitment firm Persolkelly (PSK), which worked with the Ministry of Health to provide manpower.

Fariz was seconded by PSK in November 2021 to work as a temporary staff for the Ministry of Health to support the Ministry’s Covid-19 operations.

In April 2023, the MoH checked Fariz’s annual leave balance as the ministry wanted to convert him to a staff member.

“It was then discovered that, over the last few months, there had been discrepancies in the time schedules and transport requests submitted by the accused to the Ministry of Health and to the PSK, namely that the figures submitted to the PSK were higher than those submitted to the Ministry of Health,” said the DPP. Ng.

PSK and MOH filed police reports and investigations revealed that Fariz falsified Grab receipts for rides he claimed to have taken 228 times between July 2022 and April 2023.

He did this by digitally altering the date and time on existing Grab receipts, despite not having taken the rides mentioned in those receipts. He then submitted the forged receipts to PSK, causing the firm to pay him a total of $9,526.60.

Between December 2021 and June 2022, on 234 occasions, Fariz also made similar fake receipts to Grab, duping PSK into paying him more than $6,900.

On eight occasions between July 2022 and April 2023, he also made false time sheets by filling in the forms with overtime days and hours to pretend he had worked overtime.

He then copied and pasted a previous supervisor’s signature on time sheets and sent them to PSK, defrauding the firm out of over $7,700.

In May 2023, after Fariz found out he was being investigated for the falsified receipts and time sheets he submitted, he wrote to the MOH admitting what he had done.

He resigned the following month and was arrested in July 2023.

Seeking a jail term of six to eight months, DPP Ng said Fariz’s offenses took place over a significant period of 18 months and involved more than $24,000 split from PSK.

“Each time the accused falsified a receipt or time sheet, he had to make a deliberate effort to digitally alter it or add extra days or hours, and each time he did so, he had the opportunity to- and stop the crime. Instead, he did not do so,” said the prosecutor.

In mitigation, defense lawyer Derek Tan said his client was a first offender and had made full restitution to PSK.

When District Judge Christopher Goh asked Mr Tan what Fariz did with the money, the lawyer said his client did not spend the money on personal belongings and did not commit the acts for financial gain.

But the judge noted that the offenses were committed for financial gain, despite Fariz not spending the money.

Judge Goh said he needed time to deliberate and adjourned sentencing to November 28.