Jail for man involved in case where travel agency staff gave bribes to increase sales

SINGAPORE - In a move to make more sales and earn higher commissions for their team, an operations manager in a travel company conspired with a colleague to give bribes to a man so he would buy air tickets for his firm from the agency.

Tan Han Ser and Bong Fung Sen, who were from Majestic Travel, worked together to give the bribes - over $7,000 in cash, as well as air tickets and travel insurance worth $5,571 - to See Chun Keat.

See had bought the tickets for Furuno Singapore, a company that provides services to the maritime industry.

On Thursday, Tan, 60, was sentenced to five weeks' jail after he pleaded guilty to offences including four counts of graft.

Bong and See, both 38, were dealt with in court earlier. They had committed the offences in 2018 and 2019.

At the time of the offences, Bong was working as a travel consultant, while See was employed as an assistant system integration manager.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Janice See said that at Majestic, the remuneration of travel consultants and their operation managers was in the form of commissions.

Under this structure, Tan's team was entitled to around 60 per cent of the monthly gross profits obtained from the collective sale of hotel bookings and flight tickets they had made.

Bong broached the idea of offering See kickbacks for buying flight tickets from Majestic, and Tan gave his approval to the plan.

The DPP said Tan also suggested that monies to See should be in the form of credit notes from Majestic, as this would allow the kickbacks to appear legitimate and above board.

She added that Tan had also reasoned that should the corrupt arrangement be discovered by the authorities, those involved could say that the credit notes were refunds for overpayment of tickets.

The court heard that among other things, See told Bong in January 2019 that he wanted to travel to Japan with his family of six and suggested that the kickbacks could go towards offsetting their flight tickets and travel insurance.

Bong then proceeded with the purchase after informing him that it would cost $5,571 for seven plane tickets and travel insurance.

On March 29, 2019, Bong issued an invoice for the purchase of the seven plane tickets to Japan and travel insurance to See, and he accepted it.

The court heard that during this period, Tan was aware of this arrangement between Bong and See.

Tan had, therefore, engaged in a conspiracy with Bong to corruptly give gratification to See.