Two former employees of Manulife Financial Advisers have been handed prohibition orders by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) after they were convicted for cheating under the city state’s penal code.
Mike Chew Jun Yong was sentenced to six months in prison, while Priscilla Tien Ling has been given an eight-month term.
Both have been banned from working in financial services for six years.
The duo were colleagues at the firm and, for almost a year, they conspired with a chiropractor to grow their respective businesses.
The regulator said they managed to cheat Manulife Singapore by getting the chiropractor to refer his clients to them, so that they could sell Manulife personal accident insurance to the patients.
Jail time
Chew and Tien knew the policies would not cover the customers’ pre-existing conditions, but they facilitated claims for the chiropractor’s treatment costs by stating that the injuries the clients had, and the treatment they were receiving, were sought after they bought the Manulife policy.
As a result of Chew and Tien’s fraud, Manulife paid S$1,750 and S$3,700 (£2,109, $2,617, €2,414) to cover the treatment of their respective clients.
Loo Siew Yee, assistant managing director (policy, payments & financial crime) at MAS, said: “MAS has taken action to exclude all four individuals from the financial industry, as they have abused the trust of their customers or employers for personal gain.
“We will not hesitate to impose prohibition orders of significant duration where the misconduct is particularly serious.”
