SINGAPORE — In his work as a Nestle brand promoter at NTUC FairPrice supermarket, a man stole more than S$26,000 worth of Nan milk powder on 83 occasions. He sold some on e-marketplace Carousell.
Andy Liow Boon Chin, 33, was sentenced to nine months’ jail on Tuesday (Dec 19) after he pleaded guilty to committing theft.
Another similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.
State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Augustine Arlando told the court that Liow was deployed to work at NTUC FairPrice’s branch in Nex mall from 2015 to April 2020 to promote Nestle products, which included Nan milk powder.
Between 2018 and 2019, his job scope was to take stock of the number of Nestle products as well as to take orders from customers.
He would then fill up a stock requisition form for Nan milk powder and submit it to the supermarket’s management so that the stock could be brought in from the warehouse.
Instead of following protocol, Liow would give verbal orders to a supermarket employee who could directly order the milk powder from the warehouse.
In doing this, the milk powder Liow ordered was not recorded in the system as required.
When the goods arrived, he would keep some of the milk powder in the basement for himself to take home after work.
On April 21 in 2020, the Nestle manager, who was covering Liow’s duty, discovered discrepancies between the Nan milk powder recorded in the system and the physical stocks.
She informed manager Ng Bee Lay who confronted Liow.
The court heard that after Liow admitted to having stolen the milk powder in 2018 and 2019, Ms Ng made a police report and Liow was arrested on June 7 this year.
Investigations revealed that on 83 occasions between Jan 4 and June 30 in 2019, while he was on duty at the supermarket, he dishonestly took an unknown number of Nan milk powder containers valued at a total of S$26,595.
He also did the same thing between 26 Jan and 29 Dec in 2018, over 73 occasions, committing theft of Nan milk powder amounting to a total value of S$20,919. This was the subject of the charge that was taken into consideration.
Liow has not made any restitution to date.
SPO Augustine sought a jail term for Liow, with the duration to be decided by the court, saying that he was able to carry out the theft for an extended period of time because of the trust that the supermarket had in him as a Nestle promoter.
Seeking nine months’ jail, Mr Tristan Liow from the Public Defender’s Office said that Liow had committed the offence because he was not making enough for the family.
The lawyer added that his client has been extremely worried about finances and even though he works long hours, Liow still struggles to make payment for his family’s necessities.
For committing theft, he could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.