Ex-head of department who siphoned almost $40,000 jailed 1.5 years

Ex-head of department who siphoned almost $40,000 jailed 1.5 years

SINGAPORE — A senior teacher who was convicted after trial of misappropriating student funds over two years was sentenced to one-and-a-half years' jail on Friday (5 March).

Maslinda Zainal, 46, who had been suspended as HOD for English Language and Literature at Woodgrove Secondary School, oversaw the collection of student monies by the teachers in the English department for learning materials. Her role in this area was to coordinate with the bookshop that printed learning materials for students.

However, she siphoned the money meant for the printing of the material in 2016 and 2017. She claimed trial to both charges of criminal breach of trust as a servant but was convicted.

Her lawyer, Singa Retnam, asked for a stay of the jail term as Maslinda will be filing an appeal against both her conviction and sentence.

The prosecution had earlier sought two years' jail for Maslinda, whom it said had betrayed a "position of great trust as a senior public servant".

"As Head of Department for the English Department at Woodgrove Secondary School, she was entrusted with substantial responsibility and given a wide remit to conduct the affairs of the department as she saw fit.

"In such capacity, she supervised the collection of substantial monies for educational packages. The teachers who worked under her charge trusted her to the degree that they unquestioningly handed her substantial sums of money, believing that the entire sum was being used to purchase educational packages for students," said Deputy Public Prosecutors David Koh and Stephanie Chew.

Motivated by greed, said the DPPs, Maslinda misappropriated a sum of nearly $40,000 over two years from almost 1,000 students in each school year. Maslinda's actions will affect public confidence in the teaching service, said the DPPs.

Maslinda's lawyer Singa Retnam had left the sentence to court. He pointed out that Maslinda was an "outstanding" teacher who been given awards.

"Unfortunately circumstances have come where monies are missing and she has been unable to explain and she has been convicted," said Singa.

"In my years of practice, we have principles of sentencing...You listen to the case, you hear the evidence, you look at mitigating factors and you arrive at a sentence....Sentencing is the discretion of the judge," he added.

As for Maslinda's sentence, the lawyer said that the term "should not be crushing" given that Maslinda had made restitution in the first instance when asked by an investigating officer. No loss to school or public funds was sustained, he added.

For criminal breach of trust as a public servant, Maslinda could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined on each charge.

前部门负责人抽烟将近40,000美元被判处1.5年有期徒刑

新加坡—一名高级教师因审判挪用学生资金两年以上而被定罪，于周五（3月5日）被判处一年半监禁。

现年46岁的Maslinda Zainal曾在伍德格罗夫中学（Woodgrove Secondary School）担任英语语言文学HOD的工作暂停，他负责监督英语系教师收取的学习材料。她在这方面的作用是与为学生印刷学习材料的书店进行协调。

但是，她在2016年和2017年抽走了用于印刷材料的钱。她要求对这两项作为仆人的违反信托罪的指控进行审判，但被定罪。

她的律师辛加·雷特南（Singa Retnam）要求缓刑，因为马斯琳达（Maslinda）将针对她的定罪和判刑提出上诉。

检方早些时候曾对马斯林达（Maslinda）判处两年徒刑，并称马斯林达（Maslinda）背叛了“作为高级公务员的高度信任的立场”。

“作为伍德格罗夫中学英语系的系主任，她被赋予了重大责任，并得到了广泛的职权，可以按照自己的意愿来处理系的事务。

“以这种身份，她监督了教育经费的大笔筹款。在她的领导下工作的老师们对她的信任程度，使他们毫无疑问地将她的大笔钱交给了她，并认为这笔钱全部用于购买教育经费。为学生而设。”

民进党议员表示，出于贪婪，马斯林达在两年内从每个学年的近1,000名学生中挪用了近40,000美元。民进党说，马斯林达的行为将影响公众对教学服务的信心。

Maslinda的律师Singa Retnam已将判决宣判。他指出，马斯林达是一位获得奖项的“杰出”老师。

辛加说：“不幸的是，钱财丢失了，她无法解释，被定罪了。”

“在我多年的实践中，我们有判刑的原则……听案件，听取证据，审理缓解因素并作出判决……判刑是法官的酌处权，”他加了。

至于马斯林达的判决，律师说，考虑到马斯林达在调查人员的要求下一开始就归还了马斯林达，因此“不应压倒”一词。他补充说，学校或公共资金没有遭受任何损失。

由于刑事行为破坏了公务员的信任，Maslinda可能会被判处20年有期徒刑并处以每项指控罚款。