The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued five-year prohibition orders against six former agents of Great Eastern Financial Advisers (GEFA).
Charged with fraudulent and dishonest conduct, the six agents – Chan Jun Yi, Chanel Quah Hui Wen, Lim Zhan Yi, Sherlin Chia Hee Ping, Jackie Tang Hong Kong and Yvonne Quah – were also previously convicted of tax evasion.
According to a report from Channel News Asia, MAS said that the six firmer agents engaged a third party to assist them in falsely inflating their business expenses for their income tax returns. These false expenses were then allocated into two categories – general expenses and commission paid to introducers. The book cooking resulted in reduced income taxes by SG$124,648 for the 2018 and 2019 assessment years.
All six were previously sentenced to between four days and eight weeks’ jail time as well as fines between SG$7,695 and SG$113,829.02 last year.
"MAS has issued five-year POs to all six individuals as each of them had actively participated in the scheme to cheat IRAS,” MAS said in its statement. "Their convictions for falsifying expense claims in income tax returns gave MAS reason to believe that they will not perform financial advisory services honestly."
Under the prohibition orders, all six are prohibited from providing any financial advisory service, as well as taking part in the management, acting as director, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any financial advisory firm. Likewise, they are also banned from carrying on business as, and from taking part in the management of, any insurance intermediary.
This latest round of prohibition orders follows another case involving an ex-AIG and Liberty Insurance agent that has been slapped with an eight-year prohibition following his conviction of 18 counts of corruption in 2021.
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