Charged with Accepting Bribes to Advance Business Interests

It is illegal to accept gratification as a reward for favour in business dealings. Employees should never accept bribes in return for advancing business interests.

2. On 09 January 2019, seven individuals were charged in Court with the following:

a) Lim Kian Giap (林建业), 47-year-old male Singaporean, a Property Manager of Chambers Property Management Services Pte Ltd at the material time.

i. 23 counts of offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) for corruptly accepting from one Donald Ling Chun Teck (“Donald Ling”), a Director of TAC Contracts Pte Ltd (“TAC”), gratification totalling around SGD14,385 as a reward for advancing the business interests of TAC with Chambers Property Management Services Pte Ltd, committed between 2011 and 2012.

b) Felep Pong Yuen Woh (冯源和), 45-year-old male Malaysian, a Property Executive of Property Facility Services Pte Ltd at the material time.

i. 11 counts of offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) for corruptly accepting from Donald Ling and one Justin Heng Lye Chai, a Sales Executive of TAC, gratification totalling around SGD9,380 as a reward for advancing the business interests of TAC with Property Facility Services Pte Ltd, committed between 2011 and 2013.

c) Eric Tan Guang Ling (陳垙錂), 33-year-old male Singaporean, a Property Assistant Manager of Savills Property Management Pte Ltd at the material time.

i. 11 counts of offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) for corruptly accepting from Donald Ling, and one James Tan Gin Meng, a Sales Executive of TAC, gratification totalling around SGD5,497 as a reward for advancing the business interests of TAC with Savills Property Management Pte Ltd, committed between 2011 and 2012.

d) Mohammad Mizar Bin Mohammad, 63-year-old male Singaporean, a Building Supervisor of Pebble Bay Management Corporation Strata Title 2353 at the material time.

i. 18 counts of offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) for corruptly accepting from James Tan Gin Meng, one Sim Kim Wah, a sales & operation executive of TAC, and one Lee Zhijian, a sales executive of TAC, gratification totalling around SGD5,385, as a reward to advance the business interests of TAC with Pebble Bay Management Corporation Strata Title 2353, committed between 2011 and 2013.

e) Kung Chin Whee (康清辉), 53-year-old male Singaporean, a Senior Property Executive of Propmag Management Services Pte Ltd at the material time.

i. 8 counts of offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) for corruptly accepting from James Tan Gin Meng, and one Wong Aaron Wentong, a Sales and Operations Executive of TAC, gratification totalling around SGD5,180, as a reward for advancing the business interests of TAC with Propmag Management Services Pte Ltd, committed between 2012 and 2013.

f) Sapari Bin Ebrahim, 54-year-old male Singaporean, a Senior Property Executive of Singapore Flyer Pte Ltd at the material time.

i. 2 counts of offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) for corruptly accepting from Donald Ling, gratification totalling at least SGD4,300, as a reward for advancing the business interests of TAC with Singapore Flyer Pte Ltd, committed in 2013.

g) Irene Koh Limbert (許瑋娓), 41-year-old female Singaporean, a Senior Property Executive of Newman & Goh Property Consultants Pte Ltd at the material time.

i. 11 counts of offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241) for corruptly accepting from Donald Ling, gratification totalling around SGD12,723, as a reward for advancing the business interests of TAC with Newman & Goh Property Consultants Pte Ltd, committed between 2011 and 2012.

3. Related to this case, a total of 14 individuals, including a Director and employees of TAC as well as a former engineer of SMOE Pte Ltd, were previously charged and sentenced in 2016, 2017 and 2018 for corruptly giving or accepting gratification (please see Annex for more details).

4. Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. It is a serious offence to accept bribes, or attempt to obtain bribes from another individual or entity. Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence can be fined up to $100,000 or sentenced to imprisonment of up to 5 years or to both.

5. The CPIB looks into all corruption complaints and reports, including anonymous ones, and can be reached via the following channels:

a) Visit or write to us at the CPIB Headquarters @ 2 Lengkok Bahru, S159047 or Corruption Reporting & Heritage Centre @ 247 Whitley Road S297830;
b) Call the Duty Officer at 1800-376-0000;
c) Lodge an e-Complaint; or
d) Email us at report@cpib.gov.sg ↗ (opens in new tab)

Annex

Donald Ling Chun Teck (“Ling”) was a Director of TAC Contracts Pte Ltd (“TAC”), a company specialising in providing waterproofing services, as well as minor construction works, general repairs and building maintenance. Ling was responsible for managing the sales and operations teams at TAC. Investigations revealed that from around 2011 to 2014, Ling had given gratifications to TAC’s clients which included managing agents, facilities managers and contractors in return for advancing the business interests of TAC. Corrupt payments were given either personally by Ling or his sales staff under the guise of referral fees and commissions. On 29 June 2016, Ling was charged in court for 121 counts of corruptly giving gratification amounting to at least $145,353 to 31 employees from various companies in return for advancing the business interest of TAC. He was also charged for 416 counts of corruptly giving gratification of at least $316,281.10 together with his sales staff, to 76 employees from various clients of TAC to advance the business interests of TAC. On 22 December 2016, Ling was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment.

In relation to this case, 12 other former and current TAC sales staff were charged and sentenced in 2016 and 2017 as follows:

a. Lee Zhijian, a former Sales and Operations executive, for giving $4,507 in bribes. He was sentenced to four weeks’ imprisonment.

b. James Tan Gin Meng, Senior Sales and Operations Executive, for giving $42,818 in bribes. He was sentenced to 46 weeks’ imprisonment.

c. Ng Kok Thai, Sales Manager, for giving $59,074.50 in bribes. He was sentenced to 46 weeks’ imprisonment.

d. Alagappan Suriyanarayanan, Sales and Operations Executive, for giving $36,839.50 in bribes. He was sentenced to 20 weeks’ imprisonment.

e. Justin Heng Lye Chai, Sales Executive, for giving $31,076 in bribes. He was sentenced to 19 weeks’ imprisonment.

f. Sim Kah Wah, Sales and Operations Executive, for giving $6,790 in bribes. He was fined a sum of $9,000.

g. Chang Poh Lung Donald, former Sales Coordinator, for giving $5,562.60 in bribes. He was fined a sum of $16,000.

h. Thomas Ler Tze Pin, Sales and Operations Executive, for giving $2,453 in bribes. He was fined a sum of $4,000.

i. Aaron Wong Wentong, Sales and Operations Executive, for giving $3,885 in bribes. He was fined a sum of $7,000.

j. Ng Weng Boon, former Sales Executive, for giving $490 in bribes. He was fined a sum of $2,000.

k. Chan Hon Kai, former Sales Executive, for giving $1,750 in bribes. He was fined a sum of $4,400.

l. Giam Kia Kit, former Sales Executive, for giving $165,525 in bribes. He was sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment.

Separately, Vincent Silvio Christopher, a former engineer of SMOE Pte Ltd was also charged and sentenced in 2018, for accepting a total sum of $3,950 from Giam Kia Kit, a former Sales Executive of TAC. He was sentenced to a $5,000 fine as well as a penalty of $3,950.

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau