SINGAPORE - Five people, including a policeman and two former police officers, were charged in court on Thursday (June 15) with corruption and offences under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
They are accused of being involved in two separate incidents.
The first incident allegedly involved former police station inspector Terence Lam Guo Long, 37 and dispatch driver Lim Sua Huat, 61.
On two occasions, Lam allegedly showed Lim photographs of people his then-colleagues had arrested in rioting cases even though he was not authorised to do so.
In October 2015, he allegedly showed Lim the first set of photographs showing 13 people.
Between October and November that year, Lim allegedly engaged in a conspiracy with one Goh Siong Kiat to offer a $1,000 bribe to Lam so that he would be lenient to one Pua Kok Siong.
According to court documents, Pua was a suspect in a rioting case.
In December that year, Lim allegedly met Lam at Block 185D Rivervale Crescent and gave him a $500 bribe. This alleged transaction was a reward as Lam had purportedly showed him the first set of photographs.
Lam is also accused of failing to arrest Lim after the latter had allegedly given him the bribe. On Jan 19 last year, Lam allegedly sent to Lim via WhatsApp a second set of photographs showing five people.
That same day, Lim allegedly gave Lam a bribe of $500 as a reward for purportedly sending them to him.
Lim then allegedly shared the photographs of the five people with one Goh Lay Poh between January and February last year.
On March 9, last year, Lim allegedly received a bribe of $3,000 from Goh Siong Kiat.
This amount was purportedly a reward after Lim allegedly claimed an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer showed leniency to a suspect known as Ng Thiam Teck in the course of an investigation. Court papers did not reveal any information about this ICA case.
On Thursday, Lim was charged with three counts of offences under the OSA and four counts of corruption.
Lam was charged with two counts of offences under the OSA and three counts of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The second case allegedly involved businessman Yee Kok Siong, 32, former police senior staff sergeant Tan Bee Song, 40, and Shukor Warji, 46, who is currently a police senior staff sergeant.
According to court documents, Shukor allegedly got to know that his colleagues have arrested a man known as Ng Kok Tiong. On May 29, 2015, he allegedly told Tan about the arrest even though he was not authorised to do so.
The next day, Tan allegedly told Goh Siong Kiat about Ng Kok Tiong's arrest. Court papers did not mention why officers arrested him .
In early July last year, Yee allegedly offered Tan a bribe of $4,000 at Ang Mo Kio Central and the then-police officer is accused of agreeing to accept it.
According to court documents, this purported bribe was offered so that a man known as Hoon Tian Jie would be wrongfully arrested by the police.
On July 31 last year, Tan allegedly offered a bribe of $2,000 to Shukor as a reward to wrongfully arrest Mr Hoon.
Shukor is accused of failing to arrest Tan after the latter allegedly offered him the money.
On Thursday, Tan was charged with two counts each of corruption and offences under the OSA while Yee faces one corruption n charge.
Shukor, who has been interdicted from service, was charged with one count each of an OSA-related offence and an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
All five suspects were offered a bail of $15,000 each and they will be back in court on July 6.
Offenders convicted of corruption can jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000 for each charge.
Those convicted of offences under the OSA can be jailed up to two years and fined up to $2,000 for each charge.
