Six Charged with Corruption for Advancement of Local Distributor’s Business Interests

On 26 January 2021, six individuals were charged in Court for allegedly committing corrupt acts to advance the business interests of Kodi Engineering Services Pte Ltd (“Kodi”), a distributor of surveying instruments for Sokkia Singapore Positioning Sales Pte Ltd (“Sokkia”). Neo Soon Hock (“Neo”), the Managing Director of Kodi, had allegedly given corrupt gratifications totalling $218,580 to various parties, including Tan Jianwen (“Tan”), a Regional Sales Manager of Sokkia, as well as employees of other companies in the construction and engineering sectors which would typically use such instruments.

2. The six individuals, including Neo and Tan, were charged with allegedly committing the following offences:

a) Neo Soon Hock (梁顺福, 60-year-old male Singaporean), Managing Director of Kodi at the material time

i. Corruptly giving gratification totalling $218,580 to Tan and employees of other companies, as rewards or inducements for advancing the business interests of Kodi. The acts were allegedly committed over at least 139 occasions between January 2014 and December 2017. These constituted 28 charges for offences punishable under Section 6(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241) and three charges punishable under Section 5(b)(i) of the same Act. 20 of the 31 charges Neo faced are amalgamated charges pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Chapter 68).

b) Tan Jianwen (陈健文, 39-year-old male Singaporean), Regional Sales Manager of Sokkia at the material time

i. Corruptly accepting gratification totalling $106,240 from Neo as rewards to further Kodi’s business interests with Sokkia. The acts were allegedly committed over 36 occasions sometime between April 2015 and December 2017. These constituted three charges for offences punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241) which are amalgamated charges pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Chapter 68).

c) Samsul Nizam Bin Said (49-year-old male Singaporean), Chief Land Surveyor at Penta-Ocean Construction Co Ltd (“Penta-Ocean”) at the material time

i. Sometime in March 2015, corruptly accepting gratification of $3,000 from a Sales Manager at Kodi as a reward to further Kodi’s business interests with Penta-Ocean. This constituted one charge for an offence punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241).

d) Nor Hisham Bin Tahir (47-year-old male Singaporean), Senior Land Surveyor at Tiong Aik Construction Pte Ltd (“Tiong Aik”) at the material time

i. Corruptly accepting gratification totalling $1,500 from Neo as rewards to further Kodi’s business interests with Tiong Aik. The acts were allegedly committed over two occasions sometime between January 2014 and May 2014. These constituted one charge for offences punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241) which is an amalgamated charge pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Chapter 68).

ii. Corruptly accepting gratification totalling $3,750 from Neo as rewards to further Kodi’s business interests. The acts were allegedly committed over nine occasions sometime between July 2014 and November 2015. These constituted two charges for offences punishable under Section 5(a)(i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241) which are amalgamated charges pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Chapter 68).

e) Sivakumar S/O Rangannadan (47-year-old male Singaporean), Survey Manager at Ssangyong-Hyundai Joint Venture (“Ssangyong-Hyundai”) at the material time

i. Corruptly accepting gratification totalling $5,900 from Neo as rewards to further Kodi’s business interests with Ssangyong-Hyundai. The acts were allegedly committed over three occasions sometime between June 2016 and January 2017. These constituted one charge for offences punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241) which is an amalgamated charge pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Chapter 68).

f) Chew Kok An (周国安, 41-year-old male Singaporean), Senior Purchaser at Yau Lee Construction (Singapore) Pte Ltd (“Yau Lee”) at the material time

i. Corruptly accepting gratification of $1,000 from Neo sometime in September 2014 as a reward to further Kodi’s business interests with Yau Lee. This constituted one charge for an offence punishable under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241).

3. Eight other persons involved in the case included land surveyors or purchasers from the construction and engineering sectors. They were prosecuted and convicted for corruption offences in 2020 as follows:

a) Subaindran Ratnarajah Supramaniam, Survey Manager at CTCI Singapore Pte Ltd at the material time, for accepting bribes totalling $17,795. He was sentenced to a fine of $28,000 and penalty of $17,795.

b) Rajendran S/O Thedjanamurthi, Senior Surveying Manager at Dragages Singapore Pte Ltd at the material time, for accepting bribes totalling $3,500. He was sentenced to a fine of $7,500 and penalty of $3,500.

c) Lim Thiam Seng, 林添成, Purchaser at Hyundai-GS Joint Venture at the material time, for accepting bribes totalling $3,000. He was sentenced to a fine of $5,000 and penalty of $3,000.

d) Tham Wai Hoe, 谭伟豪, Land Surveyor of Win Shin Engineering Pte Ltd at the material time, for accepting bribes totalling $1,800. He was sentenced to a fine of $2,500 and penalty of $1,800.

e) Mohd Ramli Bin Daud, Chief Surveyor at Penta-Ocean Construction Co Ltd and subsequently Surveyor at Samsung C&T Corporation at the material time respectively, for accepting bribes totalling $54,180. He was sentenced to a fine of $74,000 and penalty of $54,180.

f) Chan Ching Leong, 陳正量, Land Surveyor at Samsung-Koh Brothers Joint Venture at the material time, for accepting bribes totalling $9,500. He was sentenced to a fine of $18,000 and penalty of $9,500.

g) Chia Keu Chuan, Resident Surveyor at Leighton Contr (Asia) Limited at the material time, for accepting bribes totalling $2,665. He was sentenced to a fine of $7,500 and penalty of $2,665.

h) Tan Heng Hwa, 陳兴华, Director at LCH Engineering and Pipe Jacking Pte Ltd at the material time, for accepting bribes totalling $1,200. He was sentenced to a fine of $2,000 and penalty of $1,200.

4. 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 an imprisonment term of up to 5 years 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) Call the Duty Officer at 1800-376-0000;
b) Lodge an e-Complaint;
c) Email us at report@cpib.gov.sg; or
d) Write to us at the CPIB Headquarters @ 2 Lengkok Bahru, S159047.

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