Sentenced for Corrupt Acts
Business relationships and interests should be maintained in an honest and transparent manner. Using corrupt means can land one in serious trouble.
2. On 6 February 2020, Pang Theng Wei (“Pang”), a 45-year-old Singaporean male was sentenced to 4 months’ imprisonment and a penalty of $5,000 for corruption.
3. At the material time, Pang was employed as an Assistant Sales Manager at United E&P Pte Ltd (“UEP”) which is in the business of laying asphalt premixes and resurfacing of road surfaces.
4. Investigations by the CPIB revealed that sometime in end 2016, UEP awarded a road marking project (located at Pioneer Road, Tuas Viaduct) to Yew Ban Heng Construction Pte Ltd (“YBH”) which is in the business of road-marking works. Around the same time, Pang lied to YBH’s director Yeo Boon Huat (“Andy”) that a China supervisor from China Railway 11 Group Corporation (the main contractor for the project) had sought a sum of money to ensure that YBH could work smoothly. However, Pang had merely used the China supervisor as an excuse to seek money for himself. Between April 2017 and August 2017, Andy directed payments to Pang to prevent him from picking on YBH. On another occasion, Pang sought commission from Andy for an unrelated project that he promised Andy he would help to secure for YBH. Andy was agreeable to the proposal as he did not want to jeopardise the business relationship between UEP and YBH. Although the job was awarded to YBH eventually, the commissions were not given to Pang as he did not respond to text messages from Andy.
5. Pang was charged in Court on 8 January with four counts of corruptly obtaining gratification amounting to about $7,000 between April and August 2017 from Andy as an inducement to not jeopardise the business relationship between UEP and YBH. This constituted an offence punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241.
6. Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. 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.
7. To avoid falling victim to corrupt practices by rogue employees seeking personal gains, companies are strongly advised to put in place robust procedures in areas such as procurement and internal audit. 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, 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