The personal assistant of Kim Lim stole a Patek Philippe watch worth S$73,000 and used the company card to spend nearly S$20,000 while clubbing.

Nearly a year after the incident was first reported, Tey Jing Wen, 33, pleaded guilty to five charges including embezzlement, breach of trust, and drunk driving on Oct. 8, according to Lianhe Zaobao (Zaobao).

Previously, on Oct. 21, 2025, Lim shared about the incident on a social media livestream where she claimed that the "drama" had deeply hurt her.

The case has been adjourned until Nov. 2 for sentencing.

What actually happened?

According to Zaobao, the court heard that Tey joined Lim's beauty and health company, KL Health, as a human resources (HR) assistant in 2022.

She rose through the ranks, becoming a HR manager after just two years, and was subsequently promoted to regional coordinator.

Tey took on a key role in the company and worked closely with Lim, with employees often asking for directives through Tey when Lim was not in the office.

In August 2024, after Lim's personal assistant resigned, Lim told Tey the combination code to the company safe which contained some of her personal belongings.

However, Lim later forgot the combination, leaving Tey as the only one who could open the safe.

Drink driving

On Jun. 3 2025, Tey was stopped by traffic police for driving against traffic, and was found to have a blood alcohol level higher than the legal limit.

She was also found to have been driving without a licence and third-party insurance.

It was also discovered that the car she was driving belonged to Lim.

One of her responsibilities as regional coordinator was to look after Lim's car.

Lim was not in Singapore at the time of the incident.

Tey was later released on bail.

Investigated

After Tey's arrest, Lim began to notice that her work performance was slipping, and launched an internal investigation.

It revealed that in May 2025, Tey had used a company credit card to spend S$19,191 at several luxury nightclubs on eight occasions.

She also found that her Patek Philippe watch, as well as a stack of red packets containing S$8,000 had disappeared from her safe.

In her social media livestream in October 2025, Lim claimed that the red packet money was her son's.

Police investigations later found that Tey was the one who stole the items, having sold the watch for S$16,500 to a purported secondhand dealer while on bail.

She used S$13,280 of the money to repay part of her unauthorised credit card spending, and kept the remaining sum, as well as the red packet money, for herself.

She also stole nearly S$74,000 worth of other valuables, such as cash, jewellery, and perfumes.

For committing criminal breach of trust as an employee, she could be jailed for up to 15 years, fined, or both.