Charged with Committing Corrupt Acts for Business Recommendations

It is illegal to corruptly give or accept gratification to advance business interests. Individuals who resort to corrupt dealings for profit will have to face the consequences.

2. On 24 March 2020, four individuals were charged in Court for allegedly committing the following offences:

a) Teo Joo Tye (张裕大), 51-year-old male Singaporean, a Senior Technical Services Manager of NCS Pte. Ltd. at the material time

• 13 counts of corruptly accepting approximately S$37,400 from Ngiam Chee Chong, a Director of Emersion IT Services Pte Ltd (“Emersion”), as a reward for recommending Emersion as a subcontractor of NCS Pte Ltd (“NCS”) to perform IT infrastructure works relating to various contracts. These constituted offences punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. The alleged offences occurred between July 2016 and March 2018.

• 6 counts of corruptly agreeing to accept approximately S$9,300 from Ngiam Chee Chong, a Director of Emersion, as a reward for recommending Emersion as a subcontractor of NCS to perform IT infrastructure works relating to various contracts. These constituted offences punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. The alleged offences occurred between January and February 2017.

b) Ngiam Chee Chong (严居中), a 45-year-old male Singaporean, a Director of Emersion IT Services Pte. Ltd. at the material time

• 13 counts of corruptly giving approximately S$37,400 to Teo Joo Tye, a Senior Technical Services Manager with NCS, as a reward for recommending Emersion as a subcontractor of NCS to perform IT infrastructure works relating to various contracts. These constitute offences punishable under Section 6(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. The alleged offences occurred between July 2016 and March 2018.

• 6 counts of corruptly agreeing to give approximately S$9,300 to Teo Joo Tye, a Senior Technical Services Manager with NCS, as a reward for recommending Emersion as a subcontractor of NCS to perform IT infrastructure works relating to various contracts. These constitute offences punishable under Section 6(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. The alleged offences occurred between January and February 2017.

• One count of abetment by engaging in a conspiracy with Tay Yew Kiat, a Business Development Manager of Emersion IT Services Pte Ltd, to corruptly agree to give an unspecified amount to one Loh Kum Ming, a Sales Specialist with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (“Singtel”), as an inducement to recommend Emersion as a subcontractor of Singtel to perform network deployment and configuration works relating to projects for JTC Corporation’s sites. This constitutes an offence punishable under Section 6(b) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. The alleged offence occurred in mid-2017.

c) Tay Yew Kiat, a 48-year-old male Singaporean, a Business Development Manager of Emersion IT Services Pte. Ltd. at the material time

• One count of abetment by engaging in a conspiracy with Ngiam Chee Chong, a Director of Emersion, to corruptly agree to give an unspecified amount to one Loh Kum Ming, a Sales Specialist with Singtel, as an inducement to recommend Emersion as a subcontractor of Singtel to perform network deployment and configuration works relating to projects for JTC Corporation’s sites. This constitutes an offence punishable under Section 6(b) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. The alleged offence occurred in mid-2017.

• One count of criminal breach of trust by dishonestly misappropriating an iPhoneX worth S$1,688 belonging to Emersion IT Services Pte Ltd which was entrusted to him (Tay), an offence punishable under Section 406 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. The alleged offence occurred sometime in December 2017.

d) Loh Kum Ming (罗金明), a 45-year-old male Singaporean, a Sales Specialist in the employ of Singtel at the material time

• One count of corruptly agreeing to accept an unspecified amount from one Ngiam Chee Chong, a Director of Emersion and Tay Yew Kiat, as an inducement to recommend Emersion as a subcontractor of Singtel to perform network deployment and configuration works relating to projects for JTC Corporation’s sites. This constitutes an offence punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. The alleged offence occurred in mid-2017.

3. Based on CPIB’s investigations, the corrupt acts at the material time involved staff of Emersion (Ngiam and Tay) giving or conspiring to give gratification to then-staff of main contractors (Teo from NCS and Loh from Singtel) as inducements to recommend Emersion as a sub-contractor to carry out works on behalf of NCS/Singtel respectively. The works carried out pertained to low-value IT infrastructure works such as the replacement and configuration of network switches for various public sector agencies. CPIB’s investigations did not reveal any compromise in the works carried out nor any wrongdoing on the part of the agencies that had contracts with NCS.

4. Singapore adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. It is a serious offence to receive or give bribes. Any person who is convicted of such a corruption offence can be fined up to $100,000 or sentenced to an imprisonment term of up to 5 years or to both. Whoever convicted of criminal breach of trust can be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 7 years, a fine, 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) Write to us at the CPIB Headquarters @ 2 Lengkok Bahru, S159047;
b) Call the Duty Officer at 1800-376-0000;
c) Lodge an e-Complaint; or
d) Email us at report@cpib.gov.sg

6. Where possible, the report should include the following information:

a) Where, when and how the alleged corrupt act happened?
b) Who was involved and what were their roles?
c) What was the bribe given and the favour shown?

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau