Ex-Wildlife Reserves Singapore employees among 12 charged for corruption involving over $2.4m
SINGAPORE - A Rolex watch and a "Chanel" labelled wallet were what two employees obtained while working at Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS). But they were not rewards for good work but ill-gotten gains. One of the duo, Barry Chong Peng Wee, 54, allegedly received bribes of more than $2.4 million over 12 years. Chong, who is also known as Danial Chong, was charged on Friday (Sept 10) with 107 counts of corruption involving the bribes between 2005 and 2016. He also faces a charge under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act for using $15,900 of his ill-gotten gains to buy a Rolex watch in 2013. Eleven other people linked to Chong's alleged offences were charged with multiple counts of corruption on Friday. They are Chin Fong Yi, 44, who also worked for WRS, and 10 men who bribed Chong to advance the business interests of their companies. Court documents did not say what Chong and Chin worked as at WRS. Chin is said to have obtained bribes of more than $50,000 from two of the men between 2010 and 2015. These were for not reporting that the duo's company, Shin Yong Construction, was giving bribes to Chong. Chin is accused of receiving ...
Ex-inspection officer at BCA charged with accepting $600 bribe for showing leniency
SINGAPORE - A former inspection officer of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has been charged with accepting a $600 bribe from a construction company in exchange for showing leniency during an inspection. Tan Ming Lie, a 32-year-old Singaporean, was handed two counts of corruption on Friday (Aug 27). Court documents state that Tan, a temporary worker at BCA, had allegedly taken the bribe in November last year from one Goh Tock Tan, the general manager of Domain Trading & Construction. Domain was then managing a construction site located at 69 Begonia Drive in the Yio Chu Kang area. The alleged bribe, which sought to induce Tan to "not show disfavour" in a BCA inspection at the site, took the form of payment for consultancy services provided to Domain. At around the same time, Tan allegedly tried to obtain bribes from a project manager of construction company Sin Hock Keong in exchange for the same benefit. The project manager rejected his request and reported the matter to BCA. A BCA spokesman told The Straits Times that Tan worked there for about two months and was dismissed from his post after an internal investigation. The matter was subsequently referred to the Corr...
Ex-PUB officer charged with accepting around $45,000 in bribes and falsifying invoices
SINGAPORE - A former assistant engineer of national water agency PUB was on Friday (Aug 27) charged with accepting around $45,000 in bribes and falsifying invoices. Jamaludin Mohamed, a 58-year-old Singaporean, faces three counts of corruption and two of falsifying accounts. He was bribed by Singaporean Ganisan Suppiah, 51, who was the project manager of a company called Pipe Works. Ganisan, who was also charged on Friday, faces one count of corruption and two of abetting Jamaludin in falsifying invoices. Court documents state that Jamaludin allegedly accepted bribes of around $45,000 from Ganisan in exchange for facilitating and expediting work by Pipe Works that he supervised. The gratification is said to have changed hands on multiple occasions between 2017 and 2018. Sometime in July 2019, Jamaludin allegedly attempted to obtain a bribe of $500,000 from another piping works company in exchange for supporting its bid for a tender to replace water mains. That same month, he allegedly tried to get bribes from a construction company for the same tender. Both companies rejected his requests. Between Nov 16 and Nov 23, 2017, Jamaludin also allegedly prepared fake invoices under a comp...
Former SMRT employee and two others charged in corruption cases involving over $54,000
SINGAPORE - While working as an assistant buyer for SMRT, a 43-year-old man allegedly took bribes of more than $54,000. Soh Choon Heng was one of three individuals charged with corruption on Friday (Aug 20). The other two, from whom Soh is said to have taken bribes, are Yong Ming Jun, 39, and Wong King Mooi, 47. Soh and Yong are Singaporeans and Wong is a Malaysian. Yong was the director of Euro Bremse, a company selling and supplying motor vehicle spare parts and accessories, at the time of the alleged offences. Wong was then the director of CEE Technologies, a company dealing with electrical works. Soh, now described as a former SMRT employee, is said to have got at least $24,450 in bribes from Yong between 2016 and last year. He is also accused of receiving at least $28,700 in bribes from Wong between 2017 and 2019. The bribes from both Yong and Wong were allegedly given to Soh as a reward for providing them with information on quotations made to SMRT by other vendors. Soh allegedly received at least $900 in bribes from another individual, Lee Won Jong, in 2015 for a similar act. Court documents state that Lee was the director of Alturan at that time. An online search shows the ...
NParks officer charged with corruption, cheating and taking upskirt photos
SINGAPORE - An officer with the National Parks Board (NParks) was charged on Tuesday (April 13) with corruption and cheating, and has also been accused of taking upskirt photos of multiple women. Lee Choon Phing faces nine charges of insulting the modesty of a woman, and one charge each of cheating and corruption. The 48-year-old was a manager of the Community in Bloom branch of NParks, an initiative to promote gardening culture here. In February last year, Lee is alleged to have corruptly attempted to obtain $10,000 from a vendor that was supposed to provide 10,000 hats to NParks but only provided 5,000. NParks had paid the full contract amount of $23,300 to the vendor without imposing late delivery fees after Lee allegedly deceived an NParks accounts executive. As for the upskirt charges, Lee allegedly used his phone to take the photos of multiple women between 2015 and 2019. The victims included those working at a nursery that supplies plants used in parks, and women in trains and near a school. In a release about the case, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said Singapore adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and other crimes. Lee is out on $20,000 ...
Singapore ranked third as least corrupt country in the world, top in Asia: Transparency International
SINGAPORE - Singapore has again made it to the top ranks of the least corrupt countries in the world based on a global survey released annually. The Republic along with Finland, Switzerland and Sweden scored 85 points each, tying for third place in the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index released by the global anti-graft movement, Transparency International (TI), on Thursday (Jan 28). Denmark and New Zealand earned 88 points each to tie for top spot among the 180 countries and territories surveyed. Singapore took top spot in Asia, and was the only Asian country to make it to the top 10. TI chair Delia Ferrerira Rubio said the Covid-19 pandemic in the past year was as much a health and economic crisis as well as one of corruption which the world was failing to manage. "Those with higher levels of corruption have been less able to meet the challenge," she noted. "But even those at the top of the (index) must urgently address their role in perpetuating corruption at home and abroad." Corruption often intensifies the effects of a crisis, and when combined with a public health emergency like Covid-19, poses a threat to lives and livelihoods, said TI. The Berlin-based non-governmental orga...