Putting the lid on fraud in companies

IN AUGUST, two senior executives of local shipbuilder ST Marine made the headlines for cheating on entertainment expense claims. They claimed more than S$5 million over 10 years to fund bribes paid to customers. A third colleague is on trial for another S$1.6 million worth of bogus claims.

Earlier, there were media reports of an event organiser inflating expenses for an annual festive light-up in Geylang Serai. He had cheated government statutory boards of almost S$200,000.

Both cases highlight the extent of fraud that many companies face - a financial problem that is becoming more prevalent here.

Almost 30 per cent of companies reported at least one incident of fraud in 2014, up from 22 …