Singaporean former actor Haden Hee charged with 6 counts of fraud and forgery

Singaporean former actor Haden Hee Lic-Kai is set to appear in a pre-trial conference over six charges of fraud and forgery of documents.

The case involves his Korean food products wholesaler company Hanguk Kitchen, according to court documents obtained by AsiaOne.

The 45-year-old had allegedly instructed the company's sales director Chew Chui Shien, 53, to forge documents to fraudulently obtain $14,400 in grants from NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) between April 2018 and January 2019.

According to a Straits Times (ST) report published on Feb 24 this year, Chew submitted an application in 2017 for the Place-and-Train professional conversion programme administered by e2i, seeking salary support.

The programme helps companies reskill mid-career workers and transition into new job roles.

The application stated that Hanguk Kitchen intended to hire individuals for the roles of corporate/marketing copywriter and brand manager.

Haden was reportedly the sole director and shareholder of Hanguk Kitchen at the time of the offences.

Forged payslips

In 2018, Hanguk Kitchen hired two people — a woman as a sales and marketing manager, and a man as a business development manager.

Haden allegedly instructed Chew to forge employment contracts indicating that the two employees had been hired as a marketing and copywriting manager, and chief brands development officer respectively.

He also asked Chew to issue four sets of forged payslips for the two employees.

Chew was sentenced to five months' jail on Feb 24 after pleading guilty to two charges — cheating involving $8,400 and forgery. She began serving her sentence in March.

According to ST's report, the DPP said during Chew's trial: "Haden and (Chew) knew that (the woman) did not fulfil the e2i salary support grant conditions as her role did not fit the roles for which e2i had issued grant offers. (She) also did not receive any increment in her salary after undergoing training.

"Nevertheless, as Hanguk Kitchen was having cash flow issues, Haden decided to proceed with claiming the grants from e2i by representing that she had been employed as a marketing and copywriting manager."

The prosecution reportedly told the court then that the full sum of $14,400 has since been "clawed back".

Haden was charged in October 2024 and is currently out on bail of $30,000. He was earlier set to face trial in October but those were later cancelled.

He had previously appeared in local dramas such as Your Hand in Mine (2008), C.L.I.F. 2 (2013), The Dream Makers (2013), World at Your Feet (2014), Fire Up (2016), Legal Eagles (2017) and Gifted (2018).

The younger brother of former actor-model Julian Hee, he had also worked as a real estate agent.

Editor's note: The article and headline have been edited for clarity.

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esther.lam@asiaone.com