Former assistant store manager jailed for embezzling $160k

SINGAPORE - A former assistant store manager of Dickson Watch and Jewellery pleaded guilty to pocketing a total of $160,000 over a three-month period in 2011.

He misappropriated money that his salesmen had handed to him from the sale of 10 Rolex watches at the chain's Wisma Atria outlet, The Straits Times reported.

For criminal breach of trust, Cheng Yeou Sim, 29, was jailed two years.

The discrepancies in sales transactions were only discovered in Nov 2011. 

When confronted by the general manager, Cheng confessed to taking the money as he needed the cash urgently.

The court heard he used the cash to pay off loansharks who were hounding him.

Asking for leniency, he told District Judge Lee Poh Choo that he had been guarantor for a friend who had disappeared without paying the loans.

He could not afford to hire a lawyer nor make any restitution.

candicec@sph.com.sg