A FORMER Singapore Turf Club employee was jailed a total of 20 weeks on Tuesday for deceiving trainers into paying him import licence fees for horses which he knew were false.

Abdul Rahman Salleh, 51, who faced 144 charges, admitted to 10 counts of cheating six trainers of $11,960 in 2004. The remaining charges were taken into consideration.

In all, he cheated 16 trainers of a total of $46,480 which he used for personal expenses.

Rahman, who joined the STC in 1973, rose through the ranks to become clerical supervisor at the veterinary department of STC in 1990.

His duties included applying for and preparing documents for importing horses as well as liaising with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore on the permit and licensing of horses.

A district court heard that in March 2003, Rahman planned to earn illicit money by deceiving horse trainers at the STC. He would lie that they had to pay him import duties for horses when he knew that the fees were already included in the payments made by the importer.

Also, STC forbade any cash payments to be made to any of its employees.

He was detained in October 2004 for cheating, and was later sacked from his job.

Pleading for leniency, his lawyer Intekhab Khan told the court that his client, a first offender, had found a job as a security supervisor in a hotel and had attended various courses related to tourism and security to upgrade himself.

The father of two was remorseful for his actions, said the lawyer.

He could have been jailed for up to one year or fined, or jailed and fined.