SINGAPORE, Sept 5 — For about six months, field engineer Yeo Kok Peng misappropriated Wi-Fi routers meant for Singtel internet service customers.

He then sold them online and used the proceeds to gamble.

Today, the 50-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to six months’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust.

Another charge of criminal breach of trust as an employee involving a different company was taken into consideration during sentencing.

What happened

According to court documents, Yeo was contracted to Infinity Network Solutions (INS) between January 2018 and March 2022.

INS, a company specialising in the installation and maintenance of telecommunication networks, was contracted by Singtel at that time to install equipment like Wi-Fi routers for Singtel’s customers.

Field engineers like Yeo would be tasked to withdraw such equipment from the company’s storeroom for installation.

The engineers were also allowed to withdraw "buffer” equipment for convenience, in case they received more assignments over the course of a day.

Withdrawals of equipment were kept track of via INS online system.

"Thereafter, field engineers would update the system with the serial numbers of equipment that were installed. Any unused ‘buffer’ stock was to be returned to INS,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Samuel Chew in court documents.

During an inventory check, a project manager at INS discovered that Yeo failed to account for routers withdrawn from the storeroom between October 2021 and March 2022. The project manager made a police report in June 2022.

Yeo admitted during investigations that he sold online the ‘buffer’ routers he took from the storeroom.

Each of the 84 routers he took were valued at either S$456 (RM1,517) or S$312, depending on the model, adding up to S$35,856.

"The accused sold the routers and gambled the proceeds away,” said DPP Chew.

Yeo made a voluntary restitution of S$1,000 and INS also withheld payment to Yeo of S$5,200 as compensation for the routers.

Seeking a jail term of between five and seven months, DPP Chew described Yeo’s conduct as "persistent” and involving a high degree of premeditation.

The prosecution also noted that Yeo committed another criminal breach of trust offence while he was being investigated for the one he committed at INS.

Court documents show that Yeo misappropriated over S$3,000 in cash from another company he was employed at sometime between September and October last year. This is the subject of the charge taken into consideration.

For each count of criminal breach of trust, Yeo could have been sentenced to jail up to seven years, fined, or both. — TODAY