Waste dumping case shows graft's serious consequences

As a supervisor at a Sengkang West worksite, he had the authority to allow entry to authorised vehicles for regulated unloading of waste.

But Malaysian Jeffrey Chin Jen Len abused this authority and took almost $90,000 in bribes from drivers of various companies as a "reward" for allowing them to dump waste at the worksite.

Highlighting this case in its annual statistics release yesterday, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said this was one example of how corruption could have serious consequences.

"Corrupt arrangements which facilitate unregulated dumping of waste at a construction worksite compromise safety and can lead to serious accidents," it added.

Chin, then a site supervisor for Koon Construction and Transport Co, was jailed for 30 weeks and fined $89,920 in October last year.

Two drivers who allegedly paid Chin bribes - Low Swee Leong, a former driver for Nature Landscape, and Low Kong Yew, a lorry driver for Seaview Transport Management - have also been slapped with corruption charges and their cases are before the courts.

In another case, it was through competent investigations, effective interviews and the tenacity of its officers that the CPIB managed to quash a false corruption report made against a senior station inspector at Tuas Checkpoint.

Harry Ristanto, a tour guide from Indonesia, and a Malaysian tour guide were leading a group of Indonesian tourists into Singapore through the checkpoint on Oct 6, 2012. The station inspector took the two guides to an interview room for a brief interview.

Ristanto later lied to the Malaysian tour guide, telling her the inspector had asked for a bribe and he had paid it.

Ristanto also signed a letter, which was sent to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, falsely alleging that the officer had asked for a $2,000 bribe and that he had handed $1,500 to him.

But the CPIB found discrepancies in Ristanto's account.

The CCTV footage showed he was not alone with the officer when he allegedly paid the bribe, as Ristanto had claimed, and there was no exchange of cash while Ristanto was in the interview room.

Interviewed by CPIB officers, the Indonesian admitted to his lies and he was jailed for three weeks last June for giving false information relating to a corruption offence.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 30, 2020, with the headline Waste dumping case shows graft's serious consequences. Subscribe