Two Former NTUC FairPrice Employees and Three Others Charged for Alleged Corruption
On 6 May 2022, Lim Kian Kok (“Kian Kok”) (林建国, 47-year-old male Singaporean), and See Hock Lam (“Hock Lam”) (施福南, 69-year-old male Singaporean), a Senior Team Leader and Team Leader of NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Ltd (“NTUC FairPrice”) respectively at the material time, were charged in court for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act (“PCA”). From 2013 to 2020, the two men allegedly conspired to corruptly obtain gratification amounting to about S$523,000 from various individuals involved in the fish supply business. The gratification was allegedly obtained as inducement for Kian Kok to further the business interests of various fish suppliers with NTUC FairPrice.
2. For this, Hock Lam faces 31 charges for offences punishable under Section 6(a) read with Section 29(a) of the PCA.
3. Kian Kok faces 34 charges for offences punishable under Section 6(a) of the PCA. 31 of these charges are read with Section 29(a) of the PCA and concern his alleged acts of conspiring with Hock Lam. The remaining charges concern Kian Kok corruptly obtaining gratification totalling about S$28,300 from other individuals in the fish supply business in 2020, as inducement to further the business interests of their respective companies with NTUC FairPrice.
4. Three other individuals will also be charged in connection with Kian Kok and Hock Lam’s alleged offences. They are as follows:
a) Chew Kim Hwee [“Kim Hwee”] (周金辉, 47-year-old male Singaporean), a Director of Fish Vision Agro-tech Pte Ltd at the material time;
b) Heah Han Huat [“Han Huat”] (邢汉发, 65-year-old male Singaporean), the sole proprietor of Ocean Trust Trading at the material time; and
c) Ng Keng Meng [“Keng Meng”] (黄擎銘, 57-year-old male Singaporean), a partner of Nam Soon Sin Kee & Co at the material time.
5. Kim Hwee will face two charges under Section 6(b) read with Section 29(a) of the PCA for conspiring to corruptly give Kian Kok gratification amounting to about S$26,900 in 2020.
6. Han Huat and Keng Meng each face eight charges under Section 6(b) of the PCA for corruptly giving Kian Kok gratification amounting to S$43,500 and S$217,500 respectively from 2013 to 2020.
7. Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence can be fined up to S$100,000 or sentenced to imprisonment of up to 5 years or to both.
8. Companies are strongly advised to put in place robust procedures in areas such as procurement and internal audit to prevent falling victim to corrupt acts by their employees. Guidance for companies on measures to prevent corruption can be found in PACT: A Practical Anti-Corruption Guide for Businesses in Singapore, which is available on CPIB’s website. Companies are also strongly encouraged to obtain certification under the Singapore Standard (SS) ISO 37001 – Anti-Bribery Management Systems, which is designed to help companies implement or enhance an anti-bribery management system to reduce corporate risk and costs related to bribery.
Reference Links:
Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau