Angel Supermart boss gives up business following theft by employee, losses estimated at about $200k

Disheartened after finding out that a trusted employee had been stealing from his minimart business, the boss of Angel Supermart has decided to give it all up.

In a Facebook post on June 18, Daniel Tan announced that Angel Supermart — which has stores in Yishun and Ang Mo Kio — would be "permanently closed". 

Tan, however, later told AsiaOne that the business has been sold, adding that the new owners have taken over the minimarts, but is currently still operating under the same name.

When asked if the minimarts would undergo a name change, Tan said: "They are still thinking about it."

When contacted by Shin Min Daily News, Tan, who also owns the OK Chicken Rice and Humfull Prawn Laksa chains, shared that he'd given up the minimart business due to the disappointment he felt over the theft committed by a senior member of staff.

AsiaOne had previously reported that the thefts were committed at the minimart's Ang Mo Kio outlet and two arrests were made.

He shared that the female employee who's in her 40s had joined the Ang Mo Kio outlet in 2017 as a cashier.

According to the Chinese evening daily, there was mutual trust between Tan and the employee, and the pair had even celebrated their birthdays together at a party.

Tan told AsiaOne: "Her performance was good, and we had wanted to promote her on several occasions but she professed that she wanted the morning shift."

Tan indicated that these were hours where she would be working alone.

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He added that despite this, the employee was "in a position of trust" and had even been tasked to help scan for and investigate earlier thefts. "We never suspected her," said Tan.

But in the end, it was a case of a "pot calling the kettle black".

According to Shin Min Daily News, Tan stated that three employees spent close to a month combing through CCTV footage, which could only record 15 days' worth of activity. "In the end we found out that this employee had been stealing every day. Even when the police came to arrest the other staff, she was not scared," said Tan.

Tan pointed out that while it's not clear when the employee began stealing from the shop, he estimated the losses to be about $200,000.

"In our 10 years of business, we have caught 30 employees for stealing. But most of them were caught within one or two months, but this employee had been working with us for six years before she was found out."

Sharing more about the emotional turmoil he was put through, Tan told Shin Min Daily News: "It feels like I was cheated on and dumped after 10 years of marriage."

At the same time, however, Tan shared that someone had expressed interest in taking over the business, so he decided to sell it off.

According to Shin Min Daily, police are currently investing the most recent case of theft reported in May by two female employees, aged 46 and 52.

candicecai@asiaone.com

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