A businessman, who was unhappy with his former employee, offered a $4,000 bribe to a former policeman in July 2016 for his assistance in getting the man wrongfully arrested.

The court heard that Tan Bee Song, 42, who served in the Singapore Police Force from 1996 to early 2016, was working as a private hire driver at the time.

He agreed to accept the bribe from Yee Kok Siong, 35, before contacting his former colleague Shukor Warji, 48, who was then an investigation officer with the police force and deployed to the Unlicensed Moneylending Team.

In their submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutors Eugene Sng and Thiagesh Sukumaran said Tan then offered Shukor $2,000 to wrongfully arrest Yee's former employee, Mr Hoon Tian Jie.

Even though Shukor rejected the offer, he was sentenced to a week's jail on March 27 last year after he failed to arrest Tan for trying to bribe a police officer. Shukor is no longer a policeman.

Yesterday, Tan was sentenced to four months' jail. He was earlier convicted on two counts of corruption and an offence under the Official Secrets Act.

District Judge Terence Tay, who found Yee guilty of a corruption charge, sentenced the businessman to two months' jail.

Among other things, the court heard that Mr Hoon had spread rumours about Yee, causing the businessman's girlfriend to break up with him in 2016.

Yee told Tan about Mr Hoon in May 2016 after Tan left the police force. The pair met again at a carpark in Ang Mo Kio two months later.

The prosecution stated: "Yee made Tan the $4,000 offer on this occasion. Yee also provided Tan with Hoon's details, which Tan recorded on his handphone...Yee wanted Hoon to be arrested because of the grudge he harboured against Hoon."

Tan later offered Shukor the $2,000 bribe, which was rejected.

The court heard that Yee had claimed that he "felt pity" for Tan's financial situation when he offered the former policeman $4,000.

The prosecution said: "Tan testified that he asked Shukor to help him submit to the police information regarding Hoon's alleged crimes. Tan also testified that he told Shukor that Yee would give him $4,000 if the information was submitted" and that he would loan Shukor a part of that sum.

Tan and Yee intend to appeal against their conviction and sentences. They were each offered bail of $20,000.