16 Individuals Charged for Alleged Corruption and Cheating Offences
On 29 January 2024, the following three individuals were charged in Court for allegedly committing corruption offences involving advertisement contracts. They are:
a) Hong Hoe Chun Jane (孔好珍, 53-year-old female, Singaporean), Director of Channelbytes Pte Ltd, Channelink Pte Ltd and ChannelWerkz Pte Ltd at the material time (43 Charges);
b) Xu Zhiping (许志平, 38-year-old male, Chinese National), Shareholder of Channelbytes Pte Ltd, Channelink Pte Ltd and Multiverse Media Ptd Ltd at the material time (26 Charges); and
c) Low Lee Soon (劉律賢, 61-year-old male, Singaporean), Arts Director of Moove Media Pte Ltd at the material time (2 Charges).
2. In the course of corruption investigations into the above three individuals, CPIB discovered additional corruption and cheating offences involving 13 more individuals in relation to advertisement and servicing contracts. These 13 individuals were charged in Court on 29 January 2024. They are:
d) Lee Lian Hiang (李良贤, 55-year-old male, Singaporean), Director of BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd at the material time (19 Charges);
e) Lee Kok Keong (李各强, 50-year-old male, Singaporean), Director of Resources at The British Council at the material time (15 Charges);
f) Tan Han Leong (陳汉龙, 44-year-old male, Singaporean), Director at Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd at the material time (8 Charges);
g) Ong Seck Cheng (王旭征, 52-year-old male, Singaporean), Director of Encompass Construction Pte Ltd at the material time (6 Charges);
h) Tan Chee Heng (64-year-old male, Singaporean), Director of Design Delta Pte Ltd at the material time (4 Charges);
i) Muhammadd Fauzi bin Abdul Rahman (41-year-old male, Singaporean), Store Planning Manager of Pan Pacific Retail Management Singapore Pte Ltd at the material time (40 Charges);
j) Low Kim Yong (刘金荣, 44-year-old male, Singaporean), Assistant Project Manager of Sephora Asia Pte Ltd at the material time (12 Charges);
k) Moh Jun Hao (莫峻豪, 45-year-old male, Singaporean), Sales Consultant at Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd at the material time (6 Charges);
l) Tan Wee Meng (陈伟明, 45-year-old male, Singaporean), Project Supervisor at BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd at the material time (4 Charges);
m) Tan Ming Yean (42-year-old female, Malaysian), Activator of Stellar Lifestyle Pte Ltd at the material time (4 Charges);
n) Juraimee Bin Ab Hamid (48-year-old male, Singaporean), Senior Operations Executive Home Team NS (Bukit Batok) at the material time (4 Charges);
o) Ting Peng Lin, Benjamin (陳柄霖, 34-year-old male, Singaporean), IT Executive at Fei Siong Food Management Pte Ltd at the material time (4 Charges); and
p) Au Yong Siong Fatt (歐陽祥發, 49-year-old male, Singaporean), External Consultant of The Civil Service Club at the material time (1 Charge).
3. Further details on the alleged offences committed by the above individuals are appended in the following segments (i) to (viii).
(i) Alleged Corruption Offences Involving a Director and a Shareholder of Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd with An Officer of Moove Media Pte Ltd
4. On two occasions between December 2019 and January 2020, Low Lee Soon was alleged to have accepted gratifications amounting to S$160,000 in the form of cash loans from Xu Zhiping, who conspired with Hong Hoe Chun Jane to advance the business interests of Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd with Moove Media Pte Ltd and/or ComfortDelGro Corporation Ltd.
(ii) Alleged Corruption and Cheating Offences Involving an Employee of Pan Pacific Retail Management Singapore Pte Ltd
5. From March 2019 to January 2022, Muhammadd Fauzi bin Abdul Rahman was alleged to have accepted gratifications amounting to S$506,107.34 in the form of cash and/or loans from the following individuals to advance the business interests of their respective companies with Pan Pacific Retail Management Singapore Pte Ltd:
|
Accepted gratification from: |
Gratification accepted: |
Advancing the business interests of the respective companies with Pan Pacific Retail Management Singapore Pte Ltd: |
|---|---|---|
|
Xu Zhiping in conspiracy with Hong Hoe Chun Jane |
S$216,440.20 in the form of cash |
Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd. |
|
Xu Zhiping |
S$26,459 in the form of loan |
Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd. |
|
Xu Zhiping |
S$2,000 in the form of loan |
Multiverse Media Pte Ltd. |
|
Hong Hoe Chun Jane |
S$212,096.14 in the form of cash or loan |
ChannelWerkz Pte Ltd and/or Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd. |
|
Hong Hoe Chun Jane |
S$16,500 in the form of cash |
Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd. |
|
Lee Lian Hiang |
S$23,500 in the form of cash |
BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd. |
|
Tan Han Leong |
S$9,112 in the form of loan |
Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd. |
6. In addition, sometime in November 2021, Muhammadd Fauzi bin Abdul Rahman was alleged to have cheated Hong Hoe Chun Jane of S$500 by dishonestly deceiving her that ChannelBytes Pte Ltd needed to engage a security guard for the purpose of replacing a LED TV at the DonDonDonki's Tampines store when there was no such actual requirement.
(iii) Alleged Corruption Offences Involving an Employee of Sephora Asia Pte Ltd
7. From 2020 to 2021, Low Kim Yong was alleged to have accepted gratifications in the form of cash amounting to S$32,518 and a used Microsoft surface laptop from the following individuals to advance the business interests of their respective companies with Sephora Asia Pte Ltd:
|
Accepted gratification from: |
Gratification accepted: |
Advancing the business interests of the respective companies with Sephora Asia Pte Ltd: |
|---|---|---|
|
Xu Zhiping in conspiracy with Hong Hoe Chun Jane |
S$15,668 in the form of cash |
Channelbytes Pte Ltd. |
|
Xu Zhiping |
Used Microsoft surface laptop |
Channelbytes Pte Ltd. |
|
Lee Lian Hiang |
S$1,150 in the form of cash |
BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd. |
|
Tan Han Leong |
S$1,000 in the form of cash |
Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd. |
|
Tan Chee Heng |
S$14,700 in the form of cash |
Design Delta Pte Ltd. |
(iv) Alleged Corruption Offences Involving an Employee of The British Council
8. From September 2014 to February 2020, Lee Kok Keong was alleged to have accepted gratifications amounting to S$100,300 in the form of cash from the following individuals to advance the business interests of their respective companies with The British Council:
|
Accepted gratification from: |
Gratification accepted: |
Advancing the business interests of the respective companies with The British Council: |
|---|---|---|
|
Lee Lian Hiang |
S$84,500 in the form of cash |
BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd. |
|
Ong Seck Cheng |
S$15,800 in the form of cash |
Encompass Construction Pte Ltd. |
(v) Alleged Corruption Offences Involving a Director and an Employee of Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd
9. From 8 February 2021 to Mar 2022, Tan Han Leong was alleged to have conspired with Moh Jun Hao to give gratifications amounting to S$4,976.95 in the form of cash to the following individuals to advance the business interests of Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd with their respective companies:
|
Gave gratification to: |
Gratification given: |
Advancing the business interests of the respective companies with Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd: |
|---|---|---|
|
Ting Ping Lin, Benjamin |
S$4,526.95 in the form of cash |
Fei Siong Food Management Pte Ltd |
|
An IT Executive of Found8 Pte Ltd at the material time |
S$150 in the form of cash |
Found8 Pte Ltd. |
|
An IT Manager of Fish & Co. Restaurants Pte Ltd at the material time |
S$300 in the form of cash |
Fish & Co. Restaurants Pte Ltd. |
(vi) Alleged Corruption Offences Involving a Director of BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd
10. On 21 December 2021, Lee Lian Hiang was alleged to have given gratifications amounting to S$10,000 in the form of cash to Au Yong Siong Fatt to advance the business interests of BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd with Civil Service Club.
11. From 2018 to 2021, Lee Lian Hiang allegedly conspired with Tan Wee Meng, to give gratifications amounting to S$2,800 in the form of cash to Juraimee Bin Ab Hamid to advance the business interests of BuildCool Engineering Pte Ltd with Home TeamNS.
12. On two occasions in September 2020, Lee Lian Hiang allegedly conspired with Tan Wee Meng to knowingly give to Juraimee bin Ab Hamid, falsified quotations of Triple L Aircon and Triple L Aircon & Engineering Pte Ltd to mislead Home TeamNS into believing that Triple L Aircon and Triple L Aircon & Engineering Pte Ltd had bid for projects, when they had not.
(vii) Alleged Corruption Offences Involving an Employee of Stellar Lifestyle Pte Ltd
13. From August 2020 to August 2021, Tan Ming Yean was alleged to have accepted gratifications amounting to S$7,212 in the form of cash from Xu Zhiping, who conspired with Hong Hoe Chun Jane to advance the business interests of Channelbytes Pte Ltd and/or Channelink Pte Ltd with Stellar Lifestyle Pte Ltd and/or SMRT Corporation Ltd.
(viii) Alleged Corruption Offence Involving the Employees of Fei Siong Food Management Pte Ltd
14. Besides allegedly receiving bribes from Tan Han Leong, Tin Peng Lin Benjamin was also alleged to have given a gratification of S$500 in the form of cash to an individual in February 2021, as an inducement to prevent the said individual from exposing the corrupt dealings between Secured Retail Solutions Pte Ltd and Fei Siong Food Management Pte Ltd.
Conclusion
15. For their alleged actions, these 16 individuals will be charged with offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Penal Code.
16. Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence under Section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act can be fined up to S$100,000 or sentenced to imprisonment of up to five years or both. Any person convicted of an offence under Section 417 of the Penal Code can be fined or sentenced to imprisonment of up to three years or both.
17. 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:
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PACT: https://www.cpib.gov.sg/research-room/publications/anti-corruption-guide-for-businesses/
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SS ISO 37001: https://www.cpib.gov.sg/research-room/publications/ss-iso-37001/
Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau