SINGAPORE - A former paramedic for a private ambulance provider was jailed for six months on Tuesday (June 20) after submitting forged documents to clinch a job with the company.

Loh Wei Ming, who now works as an Uber driver, pleaded guilty to one count of forgery by submitting a bogus Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) service transcript to the Royal Ambulance Services (RAS) in June 2014.

Two other counts of forgery, involving fraudulent copies of documents the SCDF purportedly issued - an Automated External Defibrillation certificate and a Basic Cardiac Life Support certification card - were taken into consideration during sentencing.

In 2014, Loh had applied for a job as a medic at RAS and its director Mr Alias Othman, 47, called him up for an interview.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said: "As a medic, (Mr Alias) expected (Loh) to care for patients and to perform first aid for them. (Mr Alias) thereafter enquired with (Loh) what his experience was in the medical field. (Loh) informed (him) that he was a trained paramedic with the SCDF."

Loh, now 30, provided the company with a photocopied service transcript purportedly issued by an SCDF officer. RAS then employed him as a part-time paramedic on June 2, 2014.

APP Thiagesh told District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt: "As the accused also had a driving licence, he was also asked to fulfil the job responsibilities as a driver. He was required to work from 7am to 3pm, or 3pm to 11pm, on Mondays to Fridays and was paid an hourly rate of $8."

However, he was terminated on Oct 19, for failing to follow Mr Alias' instructions.

Five days later, Mr Alias noticed that Loh's photocopied service transcript was different from the one submitted by another employee who was also from the SCDF.

He felt suspicious and decided to check with the organisation.

Loh's offences came to light when the documents were found to be forged.

Mr Alias found out that even though Loh had served in the SCDF, he was an admin clerk in the logistics department.

The director later lodged a police report on Nov 24, 2014.

In mitigation, Loh's lawyer Mr Amolat Singh told the judge that his client was purely working as a driver for RAS.

Mr Singh added: "He was never required to nor did he ever carry out any paramedic duties or procedures on anyone throughout his employment with Royal Ambulance.

"At all times, he had a properly trained medic or nurse with him in the ambulance who attended to the patients he was conveying in his ambulance, In short, no lives were ever at risk nor did his forgery lead to any loss to anyone."

For committing forgery, Loh could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.