The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued eight-year prohibition orders (POs) against former Great Eastern Life Assurance representative Selvarajulu Subramaniam for cheating offences.
Under the POs, Selvarajulu is prohibited from providing any financial advisory services, and from taking part in the management, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder, of any financial advisory firm under the Financial Advisers Act 2001, said MAS in a press release.
He is also prohibited from carrying on business as, and from taking part in the management of, any insurance intermediary under the Insurance Act 1996.
The POs take effect from Dec 14.
Between September 2017 and July 2019, while Selvarajulu was a representative of Great Eastern, he cheated nine customers of about $58,000.
Two customers were deceived into believing that they would be able to reinstate the cash value of their policies through a “refunding plan”, which was in fact a policy loan. On Selvarajulu’s instructions, the customers subsequently transferred part of the money they had received from the policy loan to him.
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Another customer was deceived into believing that he was required to pay penalty fees to keep his Great Eastern insurance policies active, while the final victim was deceived into believing that Selvarajulu was receiving medical treatment for lung cancer and needed money for his medical expenses.
In September last year, Selvarajulu was convicted of four counts of cheating under section 420 of the Penal Code, while another seven counts were taken into consideration. He was sentenced to 17 months’ imprisonment.
Under section 420 of the Penal Code, anyone found guilty of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined for each cheating offence.
“Mr Selvarajulu’s convictions gave MAS reason to believe that he has not performed, and will not perform, the type of financial advisory service for which he was appointed honestly,” said MAS.
