CEO and project director at one of Singapore's major construction groups among the accused

Singaporean Pek Lian Guan China national Cai Jungang Singaporean Pay Teow Heng Korean Ro Sung-young Korean Kim Young-gyu Singaporean Zhang Xihu Singaporean Chen Xuguang (left) was charged in relation to offences involving payments from China Railway
Singaporean Pek Lian Guan (left) Singaporean Pay Teow Heng (right) ST PHOTOS: WONG KWAI CHOW
Singaporean Pek Lian Guan China national Cai Jungang Singaporean Pay Teow Heng Korean Ro Sung-young Korean Kim Young-gyu Singaporean Zhang Xihu Singaporean Chen Xuguang (left) was charged in relation to offences involving payments from China Railway
China national Cai Jungang (left) Korean Ro Sung-young (right) ST PHOTOS: WONG KWAI CHOW
Singaporean Pek Lian Guan China national Cai Jungang Singaporean Pay Teow Heng Korean Ro Sung-young Korean Kim Young-gyu Singaporean Zhang Xihu Singaporean Chen Xuguang (left) was charged in relation to offences involving payments from China Railway
Korean Kim Young-gyu (left) Singaporean Zhang Xihu (right) ST PHOTOS: WONG KWAI CHOW
Singaporean Pek Lian Guan China national Cai Jungang Singaporean Pay Teow Heng Korean Ro Sung-young Korean Kim Young-gyu Singaporean Zhang Xihu Singaporean Chen Xuguang (left) was charged in relation to offences involving payments from China Railway
Singaporean Chen Xuguang (above) was charged in relation to offences involving payments from China Railway Tunnel Group. ST PHOTOS: WONG KWAI CHOW
Singaporean Pek Lian Guan China national Cai Jungang Singaporean Pay Teow Heng Korean Ro Sung-young Korean Kim Young-gyu Singaporean Zhang Xihu Singaporean Chen Xuguang (left) was charged in relation to offences involving payments from China Railway
Henry Foo Yung Thye, a former deputy group director of the Land Transport Authority (LTA), had a gambling habit and had chalked up debts. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM LTA/YOUTUBE

Prominent Singaporean businessmen Pek Lian Guan and Pay Teow Heng of Tiong Seng Holdings have been accused of bribing former Land Transport Authority deputy group director Henry Foo Yung Thye in order to advance their company's business interests.

Pek, 55, is currently chief executive officer and executive director of Tiong Seng Holdings, a home-grown construction and property developer that handled projects such as The St Regis Singapore and Resorts World Sentosa.

He joined Tiong Seng Contractors, a Tiong Seng Holdings subsidiary, in 1990. He was its managing director at the time of the alleged offences.

Pek is also the vice-chairman of the Singapore Business Federation and holds directorships at the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall Company.

Pay, 52, who is director of Tiong Seng Contractors, joined the firm as a project engineer in 1992 and was promoted to project manager a year later. He was listed as a project director at Tiong Seng Holdings in the company's latest annual report. Pay manages the tender process for projects and oversees construction projects by Tiong Seng Contractors.

The board of Tiong Seng Holdings said yesterday that both Pek and Pay will give up their executive roles in the company from July 31. Pek will remain as adviser to the group, while Pay will be operational consultant to Tiong Seng Civil Engineering. The board said these roles may be reassessed when appropriate.

Others accused in Foo's graft case include Chinese national Cai Jungang, 56, who was director of Tritech Engineering & Testing (Singapore) at the time of the alleged offence. Cai has been involved in research and development projects that were funded by government agencies and related to underground space utilisation and development in Singapore.

Korean nationals Ro Sung-young, 48, and Kim Young-gyu, 51, are project manager and project director respectively at Daewoo Engineering & Construction, which has handled projects related to the MRT in Singapore as well as condominium projects.

Little public information can be found on Singaporean Zhang Xihu, 52, who was identified in court documents as the director of MEPT Engineering, a home-grown company specialising in tunnelling and metro line-related projects.

Charmaine Ng

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 25, 2020, with the headline CEO and project director at one of Singapore's major construction groups among the accused. Subscribe