SINGAPORE - A Singaporean earlier charged with abetting to receive stolen gas oil was accused on Thursday (Jan 25) of a similar charge in connection with the multi-million dollar Shell fuel theft case.

Marketing and operations manager Ng Hock Teck, 54, allegedly conspired with his colleague, cargo officer Alan Tan Cheng Chuan, 45, to dishonestly receive 517.8 tonnes of oil worth $385,424 around Nov 5 last year.

The charge states that the oil was transferred from Pulau Bukom to the vessel Sentek 26 at Shell's manufacturing site.

No new charges were filed against Tan or ship master Doan Xuan Than, 46.

Ship master Than has been charged with dishonestly receiving 1,348.8 tonnes of gas oil worth $736,445, which was transferred from Pulau Bukom to a Panama-registered vessel, MT Gaea, on New Year's Eve.

He is also said to have received 1,133 tonnes of stolen gas oil worth US$639,726 on Dec 1 last year. Court documents say the oil was transferred from Pulau Bukom to the same vessel.

Tan was offered bail of $30,000 while Than's bail was set at $20,000.

At the time of the alleged offences, Ng and Tan were employed by Sentek Marine and Trading, which is one of Singapore's biggest marine fuel suppliers.

Ng was remanded for another week for investigation. He will be back in court next Tuesday.

The case of Tan and Doan will be mentioned on Feb 20 when two others, surveyor Muhammad Ali Muhammad Nor, 51, and Vietnamese national Dang Van Hanh, 37, will return. They, too, have been offered bail.

Muhamad Ali has been charged with two counts of abetment by conspiracy with several employees of Shell Eastern Petroleum to misappropriate $1.3 million worth of gas oil.

Hanh's charge states that he conspired with another Vietnamese national to dishonestly receive $687,900 worth of stolen gas oil which was transferred from Pulau Bukom to another Panama-registered vessel, Prime South, on Jan 7.

Eight other current and former Shell employees have been remanded and will appear in court next Monday.