COMPANY executives are finding out that when they fall into the law's bad books, they often tumble off the corporate ladder, too.

Ong Kian Cheong and his wife Dorothy Chan Hien Leng - who were sentenced to eight weeks' jail last week for distributing and possessing anti-Muslim and anti-Catholic publications - are no longer in the respective employment of SingTel and UBS.

The two companies declined to elaborate on the specifics of Ong and Chan's departures. During sentencing last week, the media still referred to Ong as a SingTel technical officer and to Chan as an associate director with UBS. They are currently appealing against their conviction.

SingTel told BT in a statement that it has a code of conduct that applies to all employees. 'We take a serious view of activities that adversely affect our company's interests or reputation, whether these were carried out in the workplace or otherwise,' it said.

'Breaches of this code of conduct will result in penalties of disciplinary action up to and including termination or dismissal, as well as compensation for damage caused.'

Other white-collar workers have got into high-profile tangles with the law this year. In May, Poh Chai Ha, director of OT Corporate Services, was ordered to pay $1.3 million for under-declaring her income by more than $2.44 million over 11 years. The month before that, Chng Chor Tong became Singapore's first practising certified public accountant to be jailed for tax evasion.

Accountants who fall foul of the law face the prospect of a warning, suspension or termination or even dismissal without further notice by their firms.

At PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), for example, action is taken as soon as a complaint is made or a charge is filed against a staff member.

'This includes suspending the staff from work until the case is resolved, after which, depending on the outcome of the investigation, the person will be dealt with appropriately,' said Gautam Banerjee, executive chairman of PwC Singapore.

Other companies, such as OCBC Bank, also have a policy in place for such situations.

'In the event that an employee is involved in a police investigation or served with a notice/summons to appear in any court, he has to submit a detailed account of the incident to the bank's human resources department, which will review the matter before determining appropriate follow-up action,' said Jacinta Low, head of planning and employee communications at OCBC Bank.

Even if an offence is of a personal nature, accounting professionals and students could find themselves in trouble with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) if it involves dishonesty.

'However, in certain cases, the disciplinary committee might take a lenient view; for example, if a student is convicted of a petty theft the committee considers to be merely a student prank,' said ACCA.

Where lawyers are concerned, the Singapore Bar examines the element of moral character in the crime. 'If a lawyer is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, such as having cheated or lied in court, the lawyer can be suspended or struck from the Bar,' said Kelvin Tan, a director at Drew & Napier.

Long after they have served their sentences, being collared for crimes could come back to haunt the white-collar crowd.

Section 59 of the Accountants Act prohibits firms from hiring anyone who has been sentenced to imprisonment for not less than 12 months or fined not less than $5,000.