CNA – An administrator at a tuition centre who took down the NRIC numbers of students and their parents to redeem their face masks was sentenced to four weeks’ jail yesterday.
Hah Fong Yong, 58, pleaded guilty last month to one count of cheating, with a second charge to be considered in sentencing.
She worked the counter at Stalford Tuition Centre at Block 209, Upper Changi Road, Singapore and was tasked with registering students for classes.
She also had to obtain students’ and parents’ NRIC numbers to complete registration forms for enrolment.
In February 2021, Temasek Foundation announced that they were beginning their fourth nationwide distribution of mask packs.
Residents were entitled to one mask pack each, consisting of one Livinguard mask, that they would redeem from vending machines around the island by keying in their NRIC numbers.
From March 2021, Hah began noting down students’ and parents’ NRIC numbers.
She would write down four to five NRIC numbers on a piece of paper whenever she had free time, and jotted down the numbers of at least eight people.
She did so as she intended to redeem Livinguard masks issued by Temasek Foundation.
Hah would go to vending machines where the masks were dispensed and redeem them before taking the masks home.
She redeemed 20 masks valued at SGD200 in total. She later admitted she did so as she thought her family needed more face masks. She also thought it “would be a waste” if other people did not redeem the masks.
A woman lodged a police report on Mar 3, 2021 after unsuccessfully trying to redeem masks for herself and her son.
Hah was identified using police camera footage, which captured her redeeming masks at two locations, and arrested at her home on March 11, 2021. Twenty unopened packs of masks were seized from her home.
