SINGAPORE - A company director and a principal consultant have been charged for allegedly cheating the People's Association (PA) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of more than $77,000.
The duo - Jeffrey Ho Kiat, 54, a principal consultant at IMDA, and Ng Sok Luan, 42, previously a director of Goldentree Innovations and Creative Futures Agency - were hauled to court on Tuesday (Jan 26) and each slapped with 12 counts of cheating.
In a media release, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said that in 2018, both allegedly conspired to cheat PA by dishonestly concealing Ho's interest in Goldentree.
They dishonestly induced PA into making payments, totalling almost $35,000, to Goldentree and two other companies via jobs awarded to these companies.
That same year, they also allegedly conspired to cheat IMDA by dishonestly concealing that Ho had interest in Creative Futures.
CPIB said they dishonestly induced IMDA into making payments, totalling more than $41,000, to Creative Futures and another company in 2018 and 2019 for jobs awarded to these companies.
Ho and Ng are both out on bail for $50,000 each and are expected to be back in court on Feb 23.
"Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and other criminal activities such as cheating," said the CPIB.
Any person convicted of cheating and dishonestly inducing a delivery of property may be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
Correction note: An earlier version of the story said Ho was a former principal consultant at IMDA. This is incorrect. He was only suspended pending the conclusion of court proceedings against him.
