Not Leaving Corruption Unwatched

The conduct of business should be free from corruption and carried out in a fair and transparent manner. If left unwatched, corruption can cause uncompetitive behaviour and harm a company’s commercial interests.

2. On 19 March 2019, Mohamed Malik Seeni Syed (“Malik”), a director of wholesale trade company Via Star (S) Pte Ltd, and Arunachalam Arunraj (“Arunraj”), a sales executive of department store Appollo Sellappas Pte Ltd, were each sentenced to a fine of $5,000 for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Arunraj was also ordered to pay an additional penalty of $2,600 under section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

3. Investigations revealed that at the material time of the offences, Malik (a 34-year-old male Indian National) was in the business of supplying watches to department store Appollo through Via Star (S) Pte Ltd (“Via Star”) for retail sales purposes. Arunraj (a 28-year-old male Indian National) was the main employee selling watches at the watch department of Appollo. He was also tasked with alerting the inventory department when watch stocks were low, which would cause more watches to be ordered.

4. Sometime in October 2016, Malik and Arunraj reached an agreement where Malik would give Arunraj monetary rewards in return for Arunraj pushing for the sales of Via Star watches, and increasing the number of watch orders from Via Star as a result. Subsequently, Malik gave Arunraj a total of $2,600 in cash over four occasions in October 2016, January 2017, April 2017 and September 2017 ($300, $900, $500 and $900 respectively). These actions constituted offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241. As a result, on 26 February 2019, Malik was charged with four counts of corruptly giving gratification totalling $2,600 to Arunraj as inducements to advance the business interest of Via Star with Appollo, while Arunraj was correspondingly charged with four counts of corruptly accepting gratification from Malik.

5. Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. It is a serious offence to give or accept 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.

6. 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

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau