Illegal Access Denied

On 31 May 2015, Higher Customs Officer (HCO) Siow Teck Ming from Singapore Customs encountered a female Chinese National who did not acquire a customs permit for an equipment she brought into Singapore for an exhibition. After HCO Siow Teck Ming advised her to engage a local declaring agent to obtain the necessary permit, she asked HCO Siow in Mandarin if she could give some money to solve the issue of not having a permit for the electronic equipment. HCO Siow rejected her offer and warned her about her potential action. She left the Singapore Customs Duty Office, only to return with a bribe of US$200 placed between the pages of a telephone directory to HCO Siow as an inducement for allowing the release of commercial goods worth U$10,210/- without a permit. HCO Siow turned down the bribe offer.

The case was referred by the Singapore Customs to the CPIB for investigations, and the accused was charged and sentenced to 3 weeks imprisonment with effect from 5 August 2015 for corruption.