AUSTIN, Texas, U.S. (31 October 2013) – Two years after the world’s largest anti-fraud association held its Asia-Pacific Fraud Conference in Singapore for the first time, anti-fraud professionals are preparing to gather again in a country commonly considered a model for keeping fraud and corruption in check.
In November 2011, Koh Seah Wee was sentenced to 22 years in jail and Lim Chai Meng to 15 years for their roles in cheating Singapore government agencies of SGD $12.5 million (US $10 million) in the city’s biggest public-sector fraud since 1995 (source: Bloomberg).
In January 2012, the head of the Central Narcotics Bureau, Peter Lim Sin Peng, and the director of the Singapore Civil Defence Force, Ng Boon Gay, were dismissed for alleged corruption (source: Myanmar Times).
This summer, scandal rocked the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) as its former assistant director, Edwin Yeo, was accused of a four-year, SGD $1.7 million (US $1.37 million) fraud. The ongoing crisis led to the exit of CPIB director Eric Tan in September, replaced by new director Wong Hong Kuan.
According to the ACFE’s 2012 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, companies worldwide lose an estimated 5 percent of revenues to fraud – with the typical fraud case in Asia resulting in a median loss of nearly US $200,000. The statistics show corruption to be the most common fraud scheme in Asia, present in more than half of fraud cases.
Anti-fraud professionals in the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide are working hard to protect businesses and investments by preventing and detecting fraud. Those who attend the conference will hear from keynote speakers including veteran fraud fighter John Geurts, a former Australian Federal Police officer and current executive general manager, Group Security & Group Property, for Commonwealth Bank Australia. He will be joined by Nagesh Pinge, chief internal auditor for Tata Motors Limited; Jeffrey Robinson, UK author, lecturer and journalist; and Bruce Dorris, vice president and program director for the ACFE.