PR sentenced to 8 months' jail for taking over $92,000 in bribes

SINGAPORE - A Chinese national was sentenced to eight months' jail on Wednesday (July 22) for accepting bribes that amounted to more than $92,000.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement that permanent resident Zhou Weiqiang, 55, received the bribes in the form of corrupt commissions from companies when he was the assistant spare parts manager for Tiong Woon Enterprise, a company that sells spare parts and equipment for cranes.

The crimes were committed between January 2011 and September 2014, when Zhou was responsible for getting quotes from companies for the purchase of spare parts for cranes.

This allowed him to influence the procurement process as he was responsible for evaluating quotes before submitting his recommendations to his superior for approval.

During this period, investigations found that Zhou received about $90,760 in total on 39 occasions from an employee, known only as Jason Wang Xue, of WOT Parts & Machinery (HK) as a reward for showing favour to WOT in procuring spare parts from the firm instead of other suppliers.

In another incident, on March 25, 2011, Zhou received a commission payment of about $1,360 from an employee, known only as Jessica, of Xuzhou Silkway Machinery & Equipment in exchange for placing orders with the company instead of other suppliers.

Zhou was charged in court on Feb 21 with accepting gratification in return for favouring WOT and Xuzhou Silkway in the procurement of spare parts.

Those found guilty of a corruption offence can be fined up to $100,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.

CPIB said: "Employees who are involved in procurement work should not accept bribes in return for favouring certain suppliers. By giving an unfair advantage to vendors in exchange for bribes, it could disrupt market competition and inflate the cost of doing business."

The bureau also appealed to employees and companies to be on the lookout for such corrupt activities.

Those with information on such cases can contact CPIB anonymously.

They can write in to CPIB Headquarters at 2 Lengkok Bahru, S159047, call 1800-376-0000, lodge an e-complaint, or e-mail report@cpib.gov.sg

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