SINGAPORE - Over a period of more than seven years, the owner of a fish wholesale firm gave bribes to a senior team leader at supermarket chain FairPrice to induce the latter to buy more fish from his business.

From July 2013 to September 2020, Heah Han Huat, who was the sole proprietor of Ocean Trust Trading, gave at least $43,500 in bribes to Lim Kian Kok.

On Thursday, Heah, 65, was sentenced to six months’ jail for his role in the offence.

He had pleaded guilty in February to two graft charges involving at least $12,000 in total. Six other similar charges involving the remaining amount were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Lim, 48, is no longer working for the supermarket chain, and he is expected to plead guilty on March 20.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei said Lim had been tasked to oversee FairPrice’s buying operations at Jurong Fishery Port.

He also had the discretion to determine which supplier to buy fish and seafood from, and how much to buy from each company.

Some time in or around July 2013, Lim told Heah that he would buy more fish from Ocean Trust if Heah gave him money.

Heah then agreed to give him $500 a month.

The DPP added that Heah would place the cash in an envelope and give it to Lim in person at places including Jurong Fishery Port when no one else was around.

According to court documents, the payments continued until September 2020.

Earlier, DPP Tan had urged the court to sentence Heah to jail of between eight months and a year, stressing that he had committed the offences for personal gain.

Heah is not the first person to be convicted in court over graft charges involving Lim.

In an earlier proceeding, Ngow Chun Siong, 44, admitted that he had conspired with his then boss to give nearly $25,000 in bribes to Lim.

Ngow, who was working for a company called Fish Vision Agro-tech at the time of the offences, was on Feb 13 sentenced to seven months’ jail and a fine of $4,000 after he pleaded guilty to one count each of drink-driving and graft.

He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for 2½ years.

The case involving Ngow’s then boss, Chew Kim Hwee, 47, is pending.

For each corruption charge, Heah could have been jailed for up to five years, fined up to $100,000, or both.