SINGAPORE - She conspired with a former Nanyang Technological University director and used her own husband to cheat the university out of $191,000.
The court heard that Lai and her co-accused Cheng Choong Hung, also known as Viktor, were former colleagues. At the time of the offences, Cheng was the director of NTUitive. He was also a director at the Institute for Media Innovation and chief executive of Techbiz Xccelerator .Lai set up IKH in July 2014 on the advice of Cheng, who had control over the company, sourcing projects and making business decisions for it.
In 2014, on Cheng's instructions, Lai prepared a quotation for an IMI bid even though she knew the work would be done by a freelancer, Ms Lu Jiawen. In 2016, when she worked as a freelance consultant for NTU, Lai got her husband, Mr Wong Chee Leong, to sign a six-month service agreement under the pretext of him being her assistant, which she knew was false.