Charged For Alleged Corruption And Conspiracy To Submit False Quotations

25 NOV 2021

On 25 November 2021, four individuals will be charged in Court for alleged offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. They are:

a) Kaw Kok Hong (“Kaw”, 邱国洪, 52-year-old male Malaysian), Facilities Manager of Heptagon Micro Optics Pte Ltd (“Heptagon”) at the material time;

b) Lim Chor Ghee (“Lim”, 林祖義, 50-year-old male Malaysian), Director of Springleaf Engineering Pte Ltd (“Springleaf Engineering”) at the material time;

c) Peh Chin Wee (“Peh”, 白进韦, 44-year-old male Singaporean), Project Manager of Springleaf Engineering at the material time; and

d) Koh Seng Poh (“Koh”, 高成宝, 47-year-old male Singaporean), Director of DK Square Pte Ltd (“DK Square”) at the material time

2. Sometime in December 2016, Kaw allegedly obtained gratification totalling S$130,000 over two occasions from Lim, as an inducement to further the business interest of Springleaf Engineering with Heptagon. For their alleged actions, Kaw and Lim will each face two charges for offences punishable under Section 6(a) and Section 6(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act respectively.

3. Moreover, sometime between September and October 2017, Kaw and Lim allegedly conspired with Peh and Koh to knowingly give to Kaw, an agent of Heptagon, false quotations from DK Square which they knew were intended to mislead Heptagon. Kaw and Lim also allegedly conspired with Peh, Koh and another individual to knowingly give to Kaw a false quotation from another company. For their alleged actions, Kaw, Lim, Peh and Koh will each face five charges for offences punishable under Section 6(c) read with Section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

4. 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.

5. 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 the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau’s (CPIB) 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