SINGAPORE - A former police officer was hauled to court on Thursday (Dec 3) to face charges of intentionally obstructing the course of justice and unauthorised communication of information.

Hui Yew Kong, 36, is claiming trial to alerting a dance club general manager, Samuel Lim Yong Choon, 32, and an employee of another club in the same building of an impending police raid.

He also faces three other counts of communicating information to three individuals when he was not authorised to.

Lim, general manager of Club Icon, was also charged with intentionally obstructing the course of justice by using a signal to alert his employees to escape arrest by the police on Jan 9 last year. He will return to court on Jan 7 next year.

Hui, who faces a total of five charges, is said to have sent a message to Lim to remove his employees before they could be arrested for immigration offences. He allegedly also alerted a staff member of Club De Colour 1 to pass the message around to alert employees without appropriate permits to escape before they were detected by the police.

The other three offences occurred on June 7, Aug 31, 2013 and Feb 22 last year.

Hui, who is a sales executive, has earlier been charged with acting as a bookmaker by receiving bets to forecast the results of foreign league soccer matches in April last year.

These eight cases have been fixed for mention in court on Dec 21.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a statement that Singapore adopts a zero tolerance approach towards any form of criminal activity, and law enforcement officers are expected to uphold high standards of discipline and integrity.

The maximum penalty for obstructing the course of justice is seven years' jail and a fine.

Under the Official Secrets Act, Hui could be fined up to $2,000 and jailed for up to two years if convicted.