A former air steward who worked for budget airline Scoot was charged in court for embezzling nearly S$40,000 (approx. RM126,000) in cash which came from in-flight food and drinks sales.
Over the course of nearly two years, he stole the cash for over 366 occasions from July 2023 to March 2025 before admitting to his crimes.
Beginning of theft spree
According to The Straits Times, Luqman Hakim Shahfawi started his dishonest act in 2023 when he misplaced two “Brinks bags” which contained cash from the sale of in-flight food and drinks.
Given his role as a complex leader (a senior crew member in charge of more junior staff), Luqman was tasked with tallying the items sold and sales returns at the end of each flight and recording them in a Scoot software.
He was also required to deposit the Brinks bags into a safe within 48 hours of the flight.
Instead of reporting the missing “Brinks bags” to his superiors, Luqman proceeded to steal all the cash from subsequent Brinks bags as he didn’t want his superiors to enquire about the missing ones.
Confessed to act
Following the lack of follow-up from his superiors, Luqman was emboldened to continue his criminal act.
From July 2023 to March 2024, he embezzled almost S$18,000 (approx. RM56,800) on 156 occasions and stole another S$22,000 (approx. RM69,400) on 210 occasions from April 2024 to March 2025.
The court also heard that Luqman used the money to pay off debts he owed to ‘Ah Longs’.
However, the burdens of his theft eventually caught up with him, leading him to his confession and arrest on Mar 20, 2025.
Luqman pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust relating to S$22,000, while a second charge concerning the S$18,000 will be taken into consideration during his sentencing on Feb 3.
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