Teo Cheng Kiat

In the aftermath of the case, Teo Cheng Kiat's wife was charged in court in July 2001 for dishonestly receiving stolen property - mainly some of the misappropriated funds which her husband had given her. Despite pleading not guilty, Teo's wife was later convicted and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment on 16 October 2001. Singapore Airlines also sued Teo's family members, including Teo's sons and sister-in-law, to reclaim the remaining damages they suffered.

On 18 January 2000, an ad-hoc internal audit was conducted on the crew allowance payments at Singapore Airlines (SIA), and it detected three UOB bank accounts receiving ten payments each on 15 December 1999. It was unusual as there was supposed to be one payment made per crew member on that day, and the bank accounts were under the name of Teo Cheng Kiat. This suspicious error prompted a report to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), who arrested Teo on the same day the detection was made.

In his trial at the High Court of Singapore five months later, on 19 June 2000, Teo Cheng Kiat pleaded guilty to ten charges of criminal breach of trust, and had the remaining 16 charges taken into consideration during sentencing. Each charge of criminal breach of trust carries the maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment.

On 30 June 2000, the trial judge, Judicial Commissioner (JC) Tay Yong Kwang of the High Court decided to sentence 47-year-old Teo Cheng Kiat to a total of 24 years’ imprisonment.

Beginning from 9 February 1987, when he was still a clerk at Singapore Airlines (SIA), 34-year-old Teo Cheng Kiat began to misappropriate money from SIA. Teo's misappropriation continued even after he was promoted to cabin crew supervisor from 1 September 1988 onwards.

JC Tay also stated that the daily misappropriation of money took place in a systematic and sophisticated manner, and under a cleverly-hatched concealment, it took place steadily over a long period of time, which serves as an aggravating factor of the case. The judge also pointed out that even if Teo did commit the first few crimes back in 1987 out of anger towards his employers as what he claimed, this has already became a poor excuse for Teo in his subsequent crimes as these crimes were motivated solely by his increasing greed, and Teo used the criminal proceeds to provide himself an extravagant lifestyle and spent them on expensive goods more than what many honest and law-abiding citizens would earn in their lives.

Teo was Chinese-educated and he completed both his elementary and secondary education in Chinese schools. Teo was later married with two sons, who were born in 1980 and 1984. Teo's elder son later became a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) scholar while the younger son was completing his GCE O-levels at the time Teo was arrested and sentenced for his crimes. He was known to be a committed family man and model son to his family.

Teo first joined Singapore Airlines (SIA) in May 1975 as a clerk. He stayed on the post for 13 years before his promotion to cabin supervisor in 1988. Teo was regarded as a reliable employee and many trusted him with his efficient and good work performance.

Teo Cheng Kiat (张振杰 Zhāng Zhènjíe; born 1953) is a Chinese Singaporean who was known for embezzling $35 million from Singapore Airlines (SIA) while he was still employed there, and the embezzlement lasted for 13 years between 1987 and 2000 before the detection of his criminal deeds and subsequent capture. Teo was charged with 26 charges of criminal breach of trust and corruption but was found guilty of ten charges; he was sentenced to a total of 24 years' imprisonment in the same year he was arrested.