Although Mr Wong Hong Kuan - who will soon be director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) - is currently in the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, he has spent much of his public service career as a police officer.

In 1995, Mr Wong, 42, joined the force as an assistant superintendent after graduating with first-class honours in accounting from Nanyang Technological University.

Over the years, he moved up the ranks and became deputy commissioner in 2010.

During his time in the force, he had been put in charge of providing security at major events here, such as the Apec meeting in 2009.

A former colleague, Mr Paul Lim, 42 and now chief executive officer of security firm Soverus, said Mr Wong stood out because of his "heart".

"Even though we are a regimental organisation in the police force, he shows compassion and balances out his decisions with love and care for fellow colleagues and subordinates," he said.

Mr Wong was absorbed into the Administrative Service in 1998. Since 2011, he has been head of the WDA, where he spearheaded efforts to make the organisation's services more accessible to professionals, managers, executives and the special needs community and ex-offenders.

He will join the anti-graft bureau as its director-designate on Sept 1, and will take over from current director Eric Tan on Oct 1.

THAM YUEN-C