Two Jailed For Bribe to Give False Evidence

On 26 July 2022, Muraleindren s/o Thoondy (“Murale”) was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for giving a bribe of S$10,000 to Santhiran s/o Mayalagu (“Santhiran”) as a reward for Santhiran and his brother Surash s/o Mayalagu (“Surash”) to give false evidence in the form of Statutory Declarations for judicial proceedings. The judicial proceedings relate to Murale’s criminal appeal against his conviction and sentence in a stabbing case. Another individual, Sinevigneshwaraneckman s/o Many (“Vignesh”, a 41-year-old male Singapore Citizen) who had abetted Murale in the giving of the bribe, was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment on 10 February 2022.

2. On 8 Dec 2012, Murale stabbed Santhiran, Surash and another individual following a fight in the Liang Court area. Murale was charged in Court for voluntarily causing hurt and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means. Murale claimed trial. During the trial, Santhiran and Surash identified Murale as their assailant. Murale was convicted and sentenced on 25 May 2015 to 42-months’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane. Murale then filed an appeal against both the conviction and sentence. In his appeal, Murale, through his lawyers, filed a Criminal Motion to admit further evidence. This further evidence comprised two Statutory Declarations by Santhiran and Surash saying they mistook Murale as their assailant. These two Statutory Declarations were eventually found to be untrue. The case was then referred to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to determine whether any corruption offence had been committed.

3. Investigations by the CPIB revealed that sometime in mid-2015, Murale, with Vignesh’s assistance as a middleman, provided a bribe to Santhiran and Surash to file the false Statutory Declarations.

4. Investigations revealed that on or about 22 August 2015, Murale gave S$10,000 in cash to Santhiran. In return, Santhiran and Surash stated in their Statutory Declarations dated 22 and 29 August 2015, respectively, that they had misidentified Murale as their assailant. On 10 November 2016, the High Court dismissed Murale’s appeal and upheld his sentence.

5. For intentionally giving false evidence, Santhiran and Surash were both convicted and each sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment on 16 January 2020. For their roles in the corrupt offence, Murale and Vignesh were charged in Court on 10 November 2021.

6. 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 five years or to both.

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

a) Lodge an e-Complaint;
b) Email us at report@cpib.gov.sg;
c) Call the Duty Officer at 1800-376-0000; or
d) Write to us at the CPIB Headquarters @ 2 Lengkok Bahru, S159047.

8. 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