Constant Vigilance Vital To The Fight Against Corruption

Corruption Situation in Singapore Remains Firmly Under Control

The corruption situation in Singapore remains firmly under control. The number of corruption-related reports received by CPIB, as well as the number of cases registered for investigation remained low. In 2023, CPIB received 215 corruption-related reports, an 8% decrease from the 234 corruption-related reports received in 2022. Of these, CPIB registered 81 reports as new cases for investigation. The percentage of corruption-related reports registered for investigation in 2023 (38%) increased by 4% compared to the average of the preceding 4 years (34%). (Figure 1). A report is registered for investigation if the information received is pursuable. This is determined by the quality of relevant information provided. Investigative enquiries and intelligence probes by CPIB also uncovered further information that enabled a higher percentage of reports to be registered for investigation.

2.       CPIB treats all reports received seriously regardless of whether the complainant is named or anonymous. Of the 215 corruption-related reports received in 2023, 98 (46%) were anonymous. The merits of these reports were assessed based on the information provided. Of the 81 cases registered for investigation in 2023, 20 (25%) were anonymous.

Number of Public Sector Cases Remained Low

3.       In 2023, most of the cases registered for investigation (Figure 2) were from the private sector (86%, 70 cases). Out of the 70 cases, 9 cases involved public sector employees rejecting bribes offered by private sector individuals.¹ On the other hand, public sector cases accounted for 14% of all cases (11 cases) registered for investigation in 2023.

Majority of Individuals Prosecuted in Court were from the Private Sector

4.       In 2023, 111 individuals were prosecuted in Court for offences investigated by CPIB. Of these, 95% (105) were private sector individuals while the remaining 5% (6) were public sector employees. 

High Clearance Rate for CPIB Cases

5.       CPIB maintained a high clearance rate², completing investigation into 84% of subjects investigated in 2023 (Figure 3).

High Conviction Rate Maintained

6.       The conviction rate for CPIB cases in 2023 was maintained at 99% (Figure 4). The consistently high conviction rate for CPIB cases is testament to the quality of the Bureau’s investigation to be able to stand up to scrutiny in Court, as well as the close working relationship between CPIB and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) in bringing corrupt offenders to task.

Constant Vigilance is Critical to a Clean and Incorruptible System   

7.       CPIB, working together with a citizenry attuned to the need for constant vigilance, must remain alert to ensure that the Singapore system remains clean and incorruptible. CPIB is grateful to vigilant members of the public as well as public officers who have readily come forward with information of suspected wrongdoing, including anonymous reports. This enables CPIB to investigate and uncover the truth so that corruption is unable to take root in Singapore.    

Case 1 – Investigation against a Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who deceived his ministry through the misuse of the diplomatic bag service

On 18 January 2023, CPIB received information from the Airport Police Division that an officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), was detected by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), of having brought back from China a package containing luxury watches during a check conducted on his suitcase.

It was established that the MFA officer brought the package back at the request of his colleague, Oh Hin Kwan Gilbert (Gilbert), a Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) not knowing that the package contained luxury watches.

CPIB’s investigations revealed that Gilbert abetted the cheating of MFA by instigating his colleague to dispatch the package of luxury watches via the MFA’s diplomatic bag service, without disclosing that the package belonged to and was intended for someone else, and not the said colleague. CPIB’s investigations further revealed that Gilbert allegedly gave false information concerning the ownership of the luxury watches to the Deputy Secretary of MFA, by stating that the watches belonged to his (Gilbert’s) father, when he knew this was not true.

CPIB’s investigations also found that sometime in December 2022, Gilbert dishonestly concealed from the MFA that a package containing boxes of Panadol sent from Singapore to his MFA colleague in Beijing via the diplomatic bag service was intended for a personal acquaintance, rather than the said MFA colleague. MFA was induced to accept the package for dispatch via the diplomatic bag service on that basis, which it would not have done had it known the truth.

On 23 November 2023, Gilbert was charged in Court for offences under the Penal Code. His case is currently before the Court.  

Case 2 – Investigation against a Director of the National Research Foundation for alleged corruption offences

In 2021, the National Research Foundation (NRF) referred an anonymous complaint to CPIB. The anonymous complaint alleged that Henry Wong Chuen Yeung (Henry), a Director for Programmes and Central Innovation Cluster of the NRF and a member of the Built Environment Technology Alliance (BETA) Project Evaluation Panel at the material time, had accepted bribes.

The NRF is a department under the Prime Minister’s Office and BETA is under the purview of the Building and Construction Authority.

CPIB acted on the complaint and subsequent investigations revealed that Henry had allegedly agreed to accept 30% shareholding from Lee Tze Boon (Lee), Director of Smart Illumination Pte Ltd (Smart Illumination), as a reward for advancing Smart Illumination’s business interest in its application for grant funding from BETA.

BETA has suspended the processing for Smart Illumination’s fund application as a result of the investigations.

On 23 June 2023, Henry and Lee were charged in Court for an offence each under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Their cases are currently before the Court.

Case 3 - Investigation against 16 individuals for alleged corruption and cheating offences in relation to advertisement and servicing contracts

In 2021, CPIB received information from a member of public alleging that Low Lee Soon, Arts Director of Moove Media Pte Ltd had accepted bribes on two occasions from Xu Zhiping, Shareholder of Channelbytes Pte Ltd, Channelink Pte Ltd and Multiverse Media Ptd Ltd, and Hong Hoe Chun Jane, Director of Channelbytes Pte Ltd, Channelink Pte Ltd and ChannelWerkz Pte Ltd to advance the business interests of Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd with Moove Media Pte Ltd and/or ComfortDelGro Corporation Ltd³.

In the course of the investigations into the three individuals above, CPIB uncovered a complex web of corruption and cheating offences involving 13 more individuals and about S$825,000 worth of gratifications in relation to advertisement and servicing contracts.

On 29 January 2024, all 16 individuals were charged in Court for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Penal Code. Since then, five individuals have been convicted and sentenced to pay fines ranging from $6,000 to $33,000, while one has been sentenced to 64 weeks imprisonment and ordered to pay a penalty of more than $476,000.00. The rest have their cases pending before the Court.

Case 4 – Investigation against five individuals for alleged corruption offences

On 15 April 2021, CPIB received information via a walk-in complaint from a member of the public regarding alleged corrupt practices by Ocean Enterprise (INT) Pte Ltd.

Acting on the information, CPIB’s investigations revealed that between February 2016 to November 2017, Yang Xiaoyi, Director of Ocean Enterprise (INT) Pte Ltd (Ocean Enterprise) corruptly gave gratifications totalling S$43,000 to Tan Kee Kok, Project Manager of ISOTEAM Projects Pte Ltd (ISOTeam Projects) over seven occasions, in return for advancing the business interests of Ocean Enterprise with ISOTeam Projects.

Further investigations also uncovered that Yang Xiaoyi conspired with Lin Jinhua, Manager of Ocean Enterprise to corruptly give gratifications totalling about S$10,200 to Nyo Bak Wei, Project Manager of Kemvet Commercial Builders (Kemvet) over three occasions, and S$2,400 to Chan Chong Wai, Project Manager of Hak Kian Enterprise Pte Ltd (Hak Kian) on one occasion, between September 2015 to September 2016. These were in return for advancing the business interests of Ocean Enterprise with Kemvet and Hak Kian.

The five individuals were charged in Court on 28 February 2023 for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and they have since been convicted and sentenced. Yang Xiaoyi, Lin Jun Hua, Chan Chong Wai, Tan Kee Kok were fined $78,000, $18,000, $10,000 and $70,000, respectively. Nyo Bak Wei was fined $30,000 and was also ordered to pay a penalty of $10,178.

Case 5 – Investigation against S Iswaran for corruption and other offences

While investigating a separate matter, CPIB came across some information concerning former Minister for Transport, S Iswaran (Iswaran).

CPIB’s investigations revealed that Iswaran had allegedly corruptly obtained gratification worth a total value of about $145,434 and $20,848.03 from a Malaysian businessman, Ong Beng Seng (Ong) over two occasions in September and December 2022, respectively. These were inducements for advancing Ong’s business interests in matters relating to a contract between Singapore GP Pte Ltd and the Singapore Tourism Board, and a proposal for a contract with the Singapore Tourism Board. In addition, Iswaran also allegedly obtained, as a public servant, valuable things amounting to a total value of about $218,058.95 from Ong between November 2015 to December 2021 for no consideration.

CPIB’s investigations also revealed that between November 2021 and November 2022, Iswaran was alleged to have obtained, as a public servant, valuable things with a total value of about $18,956.94 for no consideration from Lum Kok Seng, whom Iswaran knew to be concerned in business transacted which had a connection with his official function as Minister for Transport.

On 18 January 2024, Iswaran was charged in the State Courts for 27 charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Penal Code. Subsequently, Iswaran was served with eight additional charges under section 165 of the Penal Code on 25 March 2024.

8.       Strong public trust in our leaders and public institutions is a key tenet of our system of governance. It must not be taken for granted. CPIB is fortunate to operate within a national anti-corruption framework underpinned by firm and unwavering political will to fight corruption, and a public which eschews corruption. Case 6 below, where CPIB was tasked by the Prime Minister to investigate the separate rentals of Ridout Road bungalows by two serving Cabinet Ministers, was testament to the strong commitment to uphold a system of governance with a high standard of integrity and accountability.

Case 6 – Investigation into the rental of Black and White Bungalows at 26 and 31 Ridout Road

On 17 May 2023, the Bureau received instructions from the Prime Minister to conduct investigations into the separate rentals of the Black and White bungalows at 26 and 31 Ridout Road, which were tenanted to Minister (Home Affairs) K Shanmugam and Minister (Foreign Affairs) Vivian Balakrishnan respectively.

The primary objective of CPIB’s investigation was to ascertain if there was any corruption or criminal wrongdoing(s) relating to the rentals. 

As disclosed during the Parliament sitting in July 2023, CPIB’s independent and authoritative investigation did not reveal any corrupt intent on the part of any person, or any inducement given to any individual involved in the processing of the rental applications. CPIB found no preferential treatment given to the Ministers and their spouses, no disclosure of privileged information in the rental process, and no evidence to suggest any abuse of position by the Ministers for personal gain.

CPIB however discovered that there was a lack of precision in the determination of “Guide Rent” by Singapore Land Authority (SLA) for the rentals, which led to an error in SLA’s public statement on 12 May 2023 which stated that Minister Shanmugam had paid above the guide rent when the monthly rental paid was in fact equal to the correct guide rent. While this has no bearing on the fact that all transactions and communications were completely above board, CPIB dutifully reported this as part of our factual findings.

Instilling Incorruptibility into the DNA of Young Singaporeans

9.       Incorruptibility is a key part of the Singaporean DNA. To preserve this important value amongst young Singaporeans, CPIB continues to engage the community and youths to co-create anti-corruption education programmes.

Multi-level Collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic, Straits Times and AGC - The Corruption Casebook 2: Hidden Victims of Corruption

10.      In a multi-agency collaboration, CPIB partnered with students from the Singapore Polytechnic Media, Arts & Design School, a journalist from The Straits Times and the AGC on a new e-book for teenagers entitled The Corruption Casebook 2: Hidden Victims of Corruption. This illustrative publication aims to educate their peers that corruption is not a victimless crime through an art-style depiction of actual CPIB cases. To complement the content, the e-book also features fresh insights from AGC’s prosecutors on selected cases. Interactive activities, quizzes and a glossary are other interesting features to enhance the learning value of the e-book as a useful resource for the youth, their parents, and educators. CPIB’s first publication of The Corruption Casebook 2: Hidden Victims of Corruption is available for download on the CPIB website.

Partnership with Uniformed Groups –Anti-Corruption Badge Programme

11.      To enhance the education of young Singaporeans on anti-corruption and the role each person plays to combat corruption, CPIB partnered with the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) to implement the Anti-Corruption Badge Programme (ACBP) in 2021. The ACBP was later extended to the Singapore Scout Association (SSA) in 2023. The ACBP sets out to educate young Singaporeans on the pitfalls of corruption with an emphasis on the values of incorruptibility, honesty, and integrity through a series of interactive activities, games, and discussions. This includes a specially developed ‘Crack the Case’ activity where students take on the role of Corrupt Practices Investigation Officers to find elements of corruption and evidence of bribery to solve a mock case. A key component of the ACBP requires students to share their key learning points with their peers and educators, in order to amplify awareness of anti-corruption. To date, more than 5,000 students from NPCC and SSA have completed the ACBP.

Conclusion

12.      The corruption situation in Singapore remains firmly under control. CPIB is grateful for the unwavering support of a vigilant citizenry who play a vital role to combat corruption. CPIB remains strongly committed to work closely together with all segments of the community to keep Singapore corruption-free and ensure that the important value of incorruptibility continues to be instilled into the young and future generations of Singaporeans.  

[1] Public sector employees who rejected bribes in 2023 comprised officers from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), the National Environment Agency (NEA), and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
[2] Clearance rate refers to the total number of subjects whom CPIB has completed investigation on, out of the total number of subjects investigated by CPIB in the year.
[3] Moove Media Pte Ltd is a subsidiary and the advertising arm of ComfortDelGro Corporation Ltd.

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau