Former Employee of Semiconductor Company Convicted for Receiving Bribes
It is illegal to give or receive bribes as inducements to advance business interests. Those who do so will face serious consequences. On 20 October 2021, Karu Jeyamani A/L Karrupiah (“Karu”) (43-year-old male Malaysian), a Senior Technical Specialist of Micron Semiconductor Asia Operations Pte Ltd (“Micron”) at the material time, was sentenced to a fine of S$16,000 and penalty of S$5,000 for receiving bribes.
2. Sometime between 17 November 2016 and 11 July 2020, investigations revealed that Karu had received bribes totalling S$16,000 on nine occasions from one Veerasamy Raghu (“Raghu”), the Director of Royal Quality Management Pte Ltd (“RQM”) at the material time, as inducements to advance the business interests of RQM with Micron. As a Senior Technical Specialist of Micron, Karu was responsible for overseeing a variety of maintenance works for Micron’s mechanical related systems. RQM has been a contractor of Micron since 2013.
3. Sometime around 17 November 2016, Raghu used the arrival of Karu’s newborn child as an opportunity to offer Karu money to advance the business interests of RQM with Micron. Karu agreed to Raghu’s offer, and received S$1,000 from Raghu in his bank account.
4.From June 2017 to sometime around 11 July 2020, Karu received bribes from Raghu ranging from S$1,000 to S$4,000 on eight additional occasions. In return, Raghu wanted Karu to continue engaging RQM for maintenance works which included scaffolding works, changing of air-conditioning filter works and cleaning scrubber packings for Micron.
5. Investigations revealed that there was an increase in the number of assignments which Micron, via Karu, awarded to RQM, from 2016 to 2020. For his actions, Karu was charged under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act on 2 September 2021.
6. Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence can be fined up to S$100,000 or sentenced to imprisonment of up to five years, or to both.
7. Companies are strongly advised to put in place robust procedures in areas such as procurement and internal audit to prevent falling victim to corrupt acts by their employees. 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 – Anti-Bribery Management Systems, 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