SINGAPORE - Twelve individuals linked to a massive conspiracy to steal oil from Shell Eastern Petroleum's Pulau Bukom site were charged on Thursday (April 14) in court with corruption.
All 12 were surveyors of companies engaged by Shell to inspect the volume of oil loaded onto the vessels that were supplied by the oil giants.
They were allegedly paid off to cover up unauthorised transfers of oil, said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in a statement.
Between 2014 and 2017, the 12 allegedly accepted bribes of at least US$213,000 (S$288,000) in total from former Shell employees Juandi Pungot, Muzaffar Ali Khan Muhamad Akram and Richard Goh Chee Keong, said CPIB.
The 12 individuals are said to have accepted bribes of between US$3,000 and US$90,000 (up to S$122,000) each.
The largest sum of US$90,000 was allegedly received by Muhammad Ali Muhammad Nor, 55, who is said to have spent $39,000 of the criminal proceeds to buy a BMW 523i.
The other 11 surveyors accused are: A. Duraisamy, 60; Jasbir Singh Paramjit Singh, 37; Anand Omprekas, 39; Noruliman Bakti, 40; Erwin Suhardi Jamaluddin, 38; Lee Been Lian, 57; Naushad Carrim Tengur, 45; Muhammad Khairul Asri Mohamad Hanafiah, 38; Kumunan Rethana Kumaran, 40; Paramanandham Srinivasan, 39; and Rizal Zulkeflee, 38.
The misappropriation of gas oil began as early as 2007, when Juandi - one of the key players in the heist - profited off siphoned gas that was sold at lower prices.
The syndicate used bribes and various methods to evade detection for years, leveraging their combined knowledge of Shell's internal systems.
Juandi was on March 31 jailed for 29 years for his role in masterminding the misappropriation of more than 200,000 tonnes of gas oil worth $128 million. This was one of the longest prison sentences for a commercial crime.
Court proceedings for Muzaffar and Goh are under way, CPIB said.
At least 26 people have been hauled to court over this conspiracy, which was first noticed by Shell in 2015 when it observed significant unidentified oil loss at Pulau Bukom.
So far, three have been convicted for their respective roles. Muhammad Ashraf Hamzah was sentenced to 9½ years' jail; Sadagopan Premnath was sentenced to six years and eight months' jail; while Muhamad Farhan Mohamed Rashid is awaiting sentencing.
Others who have also pleaded guilty include Nguyen Duc Quang, Doan Xuan Than, Dang Van Hanh and Pham Van Ban, who were captains or crew members from foreign vessels.
The maximum penalty for a corruption offence is a $100,000 fine and five years' jail.
