SINGAPORE - The last person to be convicted in a graft case involving two former senior engineers with SBS Transit (SBST) was ordered on Wednesday to pay a fine and a penalty totalling more than $75,000.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Colin Ng said that Tan Hoon Gee, 46, who used to be a senior engineer with the transport provider, had obtained gratifications totalling $35,655.51 from people including senior executives of other firms. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in an earlier statement that the monies were obtained as inducements or rewards for advancing the business interests of these companies with SBST.

On Wednesday, Tan pleaded guilty to six charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act involving nearly $20,000. Eight other similar charges linked to the remaining amount were considered during sentencing.

He was fined $39,400 and ordered to pay a penalty of $35,655.51 – the total amount of bribes received.

He will have to spend 37 weeks behind bars if he is unable to pay the fine and penalty.

Tan and another former senior engineer with SBST, Lau Yuen Fai, 61, were among seven people who were handed graft charges in October 2022.

Lau was fined $3,600 on Jan 19 after he pleaded guilty to graft charges. He was also ordered to pay a penalty of $1,350.

The remaining five people – all from other firms – are: Wang Hairu, 51, Lim Tong Keong, 58, Poh Beng Chye, 59, Wendy Loh Chen Yi, 62, and Chin Tyng Lei, 69.

All five were also given fines after they pleaded guilty to their offences.

Poh was the sole proprietor of machinery spare parts supplier Clear Cut Engineering (CCE) when he committed the offences.

DPP Ng told the court: “Sometime in 2019, (Tan) met Poh at SBST’s premises... During the meeting, the accused told Poh that he needed financial assistance and asked Poh if he could help.

“The accused told Poh that he would be ‘very grateful for his help’ and would do his best to engage CCE to carry out the jobs for SBST.”

In 2020, Poh gave at least $4,800 to Tan, who then engaged CCE to carry out jobs for SBST on 39 occasions.

Wang was a director at electronic component supplier VT Global Marine Engineering at the time of the offences.

Tan contacted her in late 2019, stating that he was facing financial difficulties.

The prosecutor said: “(Tan) told Wang that he could help VT Global to get more business by recommending SBST to engage VT Global to supply electrical components to SBST.

“However, Wang had to pay him a 5 per cent commission of the sale price if he managed to broker the purchase of electronic components by SBST.”

Wang agreed to the plan and on Tan’s recommendation, SBST engaged VT Global to supply electronic components to it on several occasions in 2020. Wang then corruptly handed Tan more than $7,000 in total as reward.

At the time of the offences, Loh was an assistant sales manager at hardware product supplier Allinton Engineering & Trading, while Chin was a director there. They agreed to give Tan bribes totalling $9,260.

DPP Ng said that Tan had requested a 5 per cent commission of the sale prices in exchange for brokering the purchase of hardware parts by SBST.

Loh had a discussion with Chin around early January 2020 and urged him to agree to Tan’s request. Chin then agreed with the plan.

With Tan’s recommendation, SBST engaged Allinton Engineering to supply hardware parts to it on at least eight occasions between March 11 and April 29, 2020.

Loh handed Tan a bribe of $3,270 in May 2020. Loh and Chin continued committing similar offences from that point until December 2020.

Allinton Engineering told The Straits Times in an earlier statement that Chin had willingly decided to step down and retire from his role as its executive director. Loh is also no longer working for the firm.

Its spokesman said: “(The monies) were paid out of (Chin’s) personal funds...The payments made were never connected to (nor) claimed for reimbursement from Allinton at any point.”

The spokesman added that Allinton Engineering continued to charge SBST as normal and did not inflate the cost of goods despite the forced commission from Tan.