Fish farm sales executive gets jail for pocketing almost S$38,000 in fish tank payments

SINGAPORE: A sales executive at a fish farm pocketed almost S$38,000 that was entrusted to him by 22 customers for the payment of fish tanks.

Patrick Tan Hsow Hwee, 49, was sentenced to 11 months' jail on Wednesday (Dec 14) for his offences.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust by dishonest misappropriation, with a second similar charge taken into consideration.

The court heard that Tan was an employee of Yi Hu Fish Farm Trading. He was a sales executive, whose tasks included the sale of fish tanks.

Yi Hu is the accessories division of Qian Hu Fish Farm, an established ornamental fish service provider listed on the Singapore Exchange since 2000.

Between Aug 2019 and August 2020, Tan sold a number of fish tanks and arranged for customers to transfer payments to his personal bank account, or to pay him in cash.

He was entrusted with a total of S$37,872.10 from 22 customers as payment to Yi Hu for fish tanks. The payments ranged from S$680 to S$3,000 per customer.

Instead of transferring the money to his company, he dishonestly misappropriated it.

Tan used the money to settle gambling debts and for his own personal expenses.

No restitution has been made.

The prosecutor asked for a jail term of between 11 and 12 months. While Tan chose to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity, he has prior convictions for criminal breach of trust in 2005 and 2020.