SINGAPORE - A sixth man, allegedly linked to a graft case involving former employees of supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice Co-operative, was charged on Tuesday (May 10) with two counts of corruption.
Malaysian Ngow Chun Siong, now 43, who was working for fish supplier Fish Vision Agro-tech at the time, is accused of committing the offences with his then boss Chew Kim Hwee, 47, in 2020.
On at least eight occasions that year, the pair allegedly worked together to give a cash bribe totalling nearly $25,000 to Lim Kian Kok, 46, who was then a senior team leader at NTUC FairPrice.
Around October 2020, the pair and a third man, Lim Wei Jian, who was then working for a firm called Kiang Huat Sea Products, allegedly gave Lim Kian Kok gratification in the form of entertainment worth at least $2,000.
As a result, Lim Kian Kok is said to have booked a yacht on Oct 18 that year and bought three bottles of whisky.
Court documents do not state if Lim Wei Jian has been dealt with in court.
It is alleged that bribes had been given to advance the business interests of fish suppliers with NTUC FairPrice.
Five people allegedly linked to the case, including Lim Kian Kok and Chew, were charged with graft last week.
The other three are: Ng Keng Meng, 57; Heah Han Huat, 65, and See Hock Lam, 69.
Lim Kian Kok is said to have worked together with See, then a team leader at NTUC FairPrice, to purportedly obtain gratification of about $523,000 between 2013 and 2020.
Apart from his alleged acts of conspiring with See, Lim Kian Kok is also accused of corruptly obtaining gratification of about $28,300 from other individuals in the fish supply business in 2020.
Heah, then the sole proprietor of Ocean Trust Trading, had allegedly given him $43,500.
Ng, who was a partner at fish suppliers Nam Soon Sin Kee & Co at the time, had allegedly given Lim Kian Kok $217,500.
The cases involving all six men are still pending.
In an earlier statement, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau advised companies to put in place robust procedures in areas such as procurement and internal audit to avoid falling victim to corrupt acts by their employees.
The bureau also urged companies to obtain certification under the Singapore Standard ISO 37001 - Anti-Bribery Management Systems, designed to help companies implement or enhance an anti-bribery management system.
