SINGAPORE: Singapore-listed CapitaLand Ascott Trust (Clas) will be fully compensated for the losses it suffered from an alleged white-collar crime in Australia, says its managers.
This came a day after new publications Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported on Sept 20 that the senior executive purportedly faked tax, insurance and legal documents in order to misappropriate funds.
According to AFR, CapitaLand accused senior executive Lee Yongho of falsifying tax invoices to have the company pay more tax than required, then pocketing the refunds when they were issued by authorities.
Lee, 44, is also accused of diverting insurance payments to bank accounts he controlled and inflating invoices for legal services, with those payments reportedly going into his account as well.
AFR said Lee allegedly moved A$2.7mil in small increments over a long time. The largest amount he allegedly stole in one payment was A$753,000.
Lee, a South Korean citizen who joined CapitaLand in 2018, was dismissed in 2023 for failing to submit the company’s tax documents, according to AFR.
His dismissal was unrelated to his alleged scheme to steal company funds, it said.
CapitaLand detected the payments only at the end of 2023 when auditors flagged the suspicious transactions. — The Straits Times/ANN
