EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In Singapore, since April 1st, more than 300,000 citizens have applied to a Covid-19 Temporary Relief Fund, which provides $500.00 in one-time cash assistance to those who have lost jobs in the wake of the global pandemic.
However, a small handful of people have made fraudulent claims to the system.
After Singapore’s Minister for Social and Family Development, Desmond Lee, posted to Facebook about taking actions against those who made illegitimate claims, a number of individuals came forward to return the $500.00, stating that the money wasn’t needed.
Law and Home Affairs Minister, K. Shanmugam said “Most people apply on [a legitimate basis], and they do need the money. That’s how this is intended to work. [But] we are going after a small number who are taking advantage, because if we don’t, that will encourage others to try.”
A forty-one year-old Singaporean man is due to be investigated on account of his online claims about the system being “so simple to cheat,” and boasts about obtaining aid without any official documents.
Authorities have stated that any citizen convicted of abusing the system can be sentenced to a jail term for as long as ten years, and fined.
For more on this story, visit Straitstimes.com.
