SINGAPORE - An ex-RSAF engineer was charged on Friday (July 21) with cheating the government into awarding contracts relating to aircraft repair and maintenance worth $1.76 million to companies he had an interest in.

Rajkumar Padmanthan, while employed as a Republic of Singapore Air Force engineer, concealed the fact that he owned and controlled Goodwill Aviations System (GAS) when he recommended GAS as a contractor for RSAF aircraft system repair and maintenance works. As a result, the Government made payment for repair and maintenance works to GAS amounting to about $869,000.

He also recommended Duratech Engineering as a contractor to RSAF, which would subcontract the work to GAS or Eagle Flight Aviation Services (EFAS), a firm in which Rajkumar, 48, also had an interest in. As a result, the Government made payment for repair and maintenance works to Duratech amounting to about $259,000.

He also separately recommended EFAS as a contractor to RSAF, which awarded the firm about $633,000 in contracts.

Rajkumar was also accused of bribing RSAF engineer Sung Way Xiong, 28, to divulge restricted pricing information related to tenders. Sung has also been charged with corruption. Sung has since left RSAF.

Meanwhile, the sole proprietor of EFAS was also charged with conspiring with Rajkumar to cheat the Government, by concealing his partner's interest in the firm.