Former SJI facilities manager who obtained over $67k in bribes jailed more than 15 months

SINGAPORE – For more than four years, a facilities manager at St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) received more than $67,000 in bribes from vendors engaged to carry out various projects at the school.

He admitted doing so as he needed money to pay mounting personal debts and family expenses.

On Oct 30, Ng Cher Him, 58, was sentenced to 15 months and four weeks in jail after pleading guilty to four charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, including corruptly

accepting gratification to further business interests.

He was also handed a penalty of $7,500.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew said Ng’s job meant he had a substantial degree of influence in the procurement process for facilities-related goods and services in SJI.

His modus operandi for the offences involved his getting the vendors to mark up their quotations submitted to SJI for the jobs and projects, with these mark-ups subsequently paid to him.

As part of his scheme, Ng would tell the vendors SJI’s budget for the project, share competitors’ bids for the project, and ultimately recommend that the school award the project to the vendors he was in cahoots with. Ng also told vendors to pay him in cash to avoid any paper trail of the payments.

DPP Chew said that in January 2018, Ng approached Renee Song Mui Kuan, a sales manager at an interior furnishing firm, and broached the idea of her paying him in exchange for his assistance in awarding more jobs to her firm.

Song agreed as she was afraid that if she rejected him, he would stop awarding jobs to her firm, said the prosecutor.

On more than 20 occasions between January 2019 and September 2022, Ng corruptly accepted more than $52,000 from Song via the scheme he had come up with.

Ng also carried out the scheme with Chin Lee Lan, who handled the sales, operations and accounting matters at a security system firm. In November 2019, Ng approached Chin and told her the school wanted to install a closed-circuit television system in the school library. He then told Chin to arrange for two more quotations with higher prices from other companies to submit to SJI so that the quotation from her firm would be the lowest.

In 2020, Ooi Kim Wei, a director of an air-conditioning contractor, offered to give Ng money in exchange for projects at SJI. He told Ng that his firm had bid for several projects at the school but had always been unsuccessful.

Ng agreed, and informed Ooi of a project involving the upgrade of kitchen hood exhaust systems of food stalls at SJI.

Ng told Ooi to submit a quotation and mark it up by $5,000, which would then be given to Ng.

Ng’s offences came to light when the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau received information of his acts in September 2022. He voluntarily resigned from SJI on Nov 2, 2023.

The cases involving Song, Chin and Ooi are still before the courts.

The court heard on Oct 30 that Ng, who had spent the bribes he had received, voluntarily surrendered $59,600 to the state in September 2025.

Seeking a sentence of 15 months and three weeks’ jail to 17 months and four weeks’ jail, DPP Chew said Ng had abused his position of power entrusted to him by SJI.

The prosecutor said: “The accused’s preferred vendors were unfairly awarded or recommended for the jobs and projects at SJI. Accordingly, other vendors which might have been more suitable or able to give more competitive prices lost opportunities to secure these jobs and projects.”

In mitigation, Ng, who was unrepresented, said: “I totally regret this and am embarrassed by my actions. I hope for a lenient sentence so I can quickly come out and contribute to society.”