SINGAPORE - A businessman, who was unhappy with his ex-employee, offered a $4,000 bribe to a former policeman in July 2016 to assist him in getting the man wrongfully arrested.
The court heard that the former cop Tan Bee Song, 42, who served in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) from 1996 to early 2016, was working as a private-hire driver at the time.
He agreed to accept the bribe from Yee Kok Siong, 35, before contacting his former colleague Shukor Warji, 48, who was then an investigation officer with the force and deployed to the Unlicensed Moneylending Team.
In their submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutors Eugene Sng and Thiagesh Sukumaran said that Tan then offered Shukor $2,000 to wrongfully arrest Yee's former employee, Mr Hoon Tian Jie.
Even though Shukor rejected the offer, he was sentenced to a week's jail on March 27 last year after he failed to arrest Tan for trying to bribe a police officer. Shukor is no longer a policeman.
On Wednesday (Nov 6), Tan was sentenced to four months' jail. He was earlier convicted on two counts of corruption and an offence under the Official Secrets Act.
District Judge Terence Tay, who found Yee guilty of a corruption charge, sentenced the businessman to two months' jail.
The DPPs stated in their submissions that Yee and Tan knew each other around 2005 through Tan's nephew.
They added that Yee employed Mr Hoon in 2014 and later became unhappy with him .
Among other things, the court heard that Mr Hoon had spread rumours about Yee, causing the businessman's girlfriend to break up with him in 2016.
Yee told Tan about Mr Hoon in May 2016 after Tan left the police force, the court heard. The pair met again at a carpark in Ang Mo Kio two months later.
The DPPs stated: "Yee made Tan the $4,000 offer on this occasion. Yee also provided Tan with Hoon's details, which Tan recorded on his handphone... Yee wanted Hoon to be arrested because of the grudge he harboured against Hoon."
Tan was driving near Shukor's home on July 31, 2016, when he called his former colleague, asking to meet up for a chat. Tan then offered Shukor the $2,000 bribe which was rejected.
The court heard that Yee had claimed that he "felt pity" for Tan's financial situation when he offered the former policeman $4,000.
The DPPs said: "Tan testified that he asked Shukor to help him to submit to the police information regarding Hoon's alleged crimes. Tan also testified that he told Shukor that Yee would give him $4,000 if the information was submitted and that he would loan Shukor $2,500 of that sum."
Yee was represented by lawyers Shashi Nathan, Jeremy Pereira and Cathy Pereira. Lawyer Daniel Atticus Xu represented Tan.
Both men intend to appeal against their conviction and sentences. They were each offered bail of $20,000.
For each count of corruption, offenders can be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000.
