Man fined $20k for procurement fraud involving Singapore Prison Service

SINGAPORE – A project manager was handed a fine of $20,000 for defrauding the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) by submitting fake quotations.

Tan Sin Liang, 62, was convicted of one charge of fraud on Oct 23.

Court documents stated that Tan was a project manager at Soon Hock Sprinkler System, a company which installs fire protection and security alarm systems.

The company had been appointed as a sub-contractor for Tiong Seng Contractors, a building construction company that won a contract from SPS for the development and construction of Selarang Park Complex from July 2016 to February 2020.

SPS engaged CPG Consultants to manage the contract.

To obtain payment for works, Tiong Seng Contractors was required to submit three quotations to CPG.

Tiong Seng asked its sub-contractors who performed the works to source the quotations. One quotation would come from the sub-contractor, and two from other sub-contractors.

When asked by Tiong Seng to submit quotations between Jan 24, 2018, and Dec 4, 2020, Tan asked his administrative staff member to forge three quotations under the letterheads of Beryllus Pte Ltd.

Tan gave the staff member specific instructions for the prices and description of the works to put in the false quotations.

“In particular, the accused instructed (the staff member) to input prices on the forged quotations that were higher than Soon Hock’s quotation for the same works,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordon Li.

The staff member would access soft-copy templates of Beryllus quotations and create the forged documents with details provided by Tan.

The fake quotations and Soon Hock’s quotations would be sent to Tiong Seng, which sent them to CPG for their review.

“The accused wanted to deceive SPS into believing that the quotations were authentic and issued by Beryllus and that they were for a higher price than the price quoted by Soon Hock for the same (works), so that the quotations could be used to retrospectively justify why Soon Hock was selected to perform the star rate works,” said DPP Li.

Throughout this, the administrative staff member was unaware of Tan’s intention to defraud SPS.

The forgery came to light during a subsequent verification of cost reasonableness conduct by CPG, which found an excess payment of $7,394.50 for a job completed by Soon Hock.

The excess payment was later recovered from Tiong Seng.

The prosecution asked for a fine of at least $20,000 for Tan, adding that the harm and culpability of his offence was low.

“We note that while there was some overpayment in relation to one of the forged invoices, the excess payment was subsequently recovered from the main contractor, Tiong Seng.

“There was no overpayment or loss detected in relation to any of the other forged invoices,” said DPP Li, who also pointed out that Tan would not have stood to gain as payment would have been made to the main contractor.

Tan has since paid the fine in full.

For forgery, an offender can be jailed for up to four years and fined.