Company director gets 9 months’ jail for giving $120k in bribes to Sats technical supervisor
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SINGAPORE – A construction firm director who gave $120,000 in bribes meant for a technical supervisor at Sats – Changi Airport’s main ground-handling and in-flight catering service provider – was sentenced to nine months’ jail on Tuesday.
Teo Yoke Chiang, 56, director at K&T Building Construction, had pleaded guilty to a graft charge.
In 2017, he gave the monies to Lim Koon Chuan, who facilitated the award of a contract for the maintenance of Sats Airfreight Terminals 1 to 6.
Lim, then 59, who worked at Sats from 1982 to 2017, was sentenced to 15 months’ jail in August 2020.
Tang Book Song is another man who is allegedly involved in the case, in the purported role of a middleman. His case is pending.
The prosecution said that Sats periodically awards a custodian contract for maintenance works at its airfreight terminals 1 to 6 relating to mechanical and electrical services.
On Dec 9, 2016, it called an open tender for the contract.
Tang, also known as Wang Chin Chai, now 60, learnt about the upcoming tender and also heard a rumour that Lim was soliciting “commission payments” for the award of the contract.
When approached by Tang, Lim confirmed that the rumour was true.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Stacey Anne Fernandez said: “Lim also told Tang that the bid for the upcoming tender should be placed at not more than $1.2 million in order to secure the contract. Tang told Lim that he could help Lim find a company which could submit a quotation for the tender.”
Tang contacted Teo some time before Jan 4, 2017, with the information he received from Lim.
Teo knew that his company K&T was not eligible for the tender since its licence at the time allowed it to bid for tenders of up to only $700,000.
Teo then told his staff to approach KJS Construction, for which K&T was a sub-contractor, to put in a bid for the tender.
KJS agreed to put in a bid and was not aware of the 10 per cent cut Teo had agreed to pay Lim.
In January 2017, Tang received $120,000 from Teo and then handed the amount to Lim.
Sats eventually awarded KJS the custodian contract worth $1.2 million for the maintenance of Sats Airfreight Terminals 1 to 6 from March 1, 2017, to Feb 28, 2020.
For graft, an offender can be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000.
