30-4-2024 (SINGAPORE) In a shocking case of white-collar crime driven by greed and compulsive gambling, a senior claims executive at a leading insurance firm in Singapore has been sentenced to over 10 years behind bars for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraudulent claims racket spanning nearly a decade.
Suyandi, a 46-year-old permanent resident who goes by a single name, was handed a prison term of 10 years and 10 months on 29 April after pleading guilty to eight charges including multiple counts of cheating. The Singaporean prosecutors stated the disgraced executive pocketed more than $10.7 million (£6.4m) through 355 false insurance claims processed between May 2010 and September 2017 to fund his gambling addiction, with no restitution made.
Originally joining Ace Insurance in 2009 before its acquisition by Chubb seven years later, Suyandi abused his position reviewing and verifying claims at the firm now known as Chubb Insurance Singapore. His responsibilities involved determining claim validity, approval amounts and initiating payout transfers to bank accounts provided by claimants.
However, court documents revealed the cunning executive exploited this authority by keying in bogus claims and remitting over $10.7 million to 29 different beneficiary accounts across 23 countries outside Singapore over the seven-year period. Many of these overseas recipients were acquaintances unaware of the scam’s illicit nature, with some retaining 3-10% of the fraudulent funds for facilitating transfers to Suyandi.
“The offences represent a complete perversion of the offender’s primary job responsibilities as a senior claims executive,” Deputy Public Prosecutors Koh Yi Wen and Yohanes Ng told the court, highlighting Suyandi’s immense breach of trust motivated purely by self-serving greed. “He took the trust and authority reposed in him by the victim company and utterly abused it.”
The prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of 12-14 years, underscoring the severe nature of the calculated fraud. However, Suyandi faces a mandatory treatment order upon release for his gambling addiction which fuelled the criminal enterprise.
The fraudster’s undoing came in late 2017 when Chubb uncovered irregularities in claims processed under his purview, triggering forensic audits and a police report. Following a protracted investigation, Suyandi was eventually charged in June 2023.
