Woman who gave at least $2,500 in bribes to then SJI facilities manager gets 10 days’ jail
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Chin Lee Lan was the second person linked to the case to be dealt with in court.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
SINGAPORE – A woman managing the operations of a security solutions company gave at least $2,500 in bribes to a man who was then a facilities manager at St Joseph’s Institution (SJI).
Chin Lee Lan, 71, was working for Integrated Security Solution Asia Pacific (ISS) at the time, and she committed the offence on five occasions between August 2020 and April 2022.
In return, Ng Cher Him awarded seven jobs worth more than $27,000 in total to ISS.
Chin, who is also known as Margaret, was sentenced to 10 days’ jail on March 4 after she pleaded guilty to a graft charge.
Three other charges were considered during her sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew said: “(She) committed the offences for monetary gain.
“She agreed to Ng partly for fear that if she rejected Ng, the latter would stop awarding jobs to ISS or recommending ISS for projects at SJI.”
Chin was the second person linked to the case to be dealt with in court.
In October 2025, Ng, then 58, was sentenced to a year, three months and four weeks in jail
He had received more than $67,000 in bribes from vendors engaged to carry out various projects at SJI.
An SJI spokesperson had earlier told The Straits Times that Ng stopped working for the school in November 2023.
The cases involving two others – Ooi Kim Wei, 49, and Renee Song Mui Kuan, 53 – are still pending.
Court documents stated that while working for SJI, Ng was tasked to oversee all aspects of the school’s facilities, including contract and vendor management.
The DPP said that Ng had a substantial degree of influence in the procurement process for facilities-related goods and services at the school.
This included inviting vendors for projects and supporting the direct award of jobs to vendors when the purchase value was below $6,000.
He could also make recommendations for invitations-to-quote (ITQs) or tenders for projects to be awarded to certain vendors when the purchase value was over $6,000.
ISS started carrying out jobs and projects at SJI in 2015.
Three years later, Ng told Chin about a job involving the installation of a barrier gate at a guardhouse at SJI and instructed her to quote the sum of $5,500.
This is so that he could directly award the job to ISS without having to conduct an ITQ or tender.
On three occasions between February and November 2019, he also helped her to arrange false supporting quotations, which would be submitted to SJI.
Such quotations were linked to a tender and two ITQs involving the installation of CCTV cameras at the school.
The DPP said: “Ng asked the accused to obtain supporting quotations from other companies for these projects to strengthen ISS’ prospect of securing the tender/ITQ... Three vendors... subsequently submitted higher quotations to Ng without any intention of securing the tender/ITQ.
“ISS was eventually awarded the ITQs as it had submitted the lowest quotation for these projects.”
Ng had used the quotations from the other vendors to deceive SJI into awarding the projects to ISS on the basis that it had submitted the lowest-priced quotation, the court heard.
In 2020, he approached Chin and informed her that he could assist in awarding more jobs and projects to ISS in exchange for money.
Chin agreed, partly for fear that if she rejected Ng, he would stop awarding jobs to ISS.
On five occasions between August 2020 and April 2022, she gave Ng bribes totalling at least $2,500 as a reward for furthering the business interests of ISS with SJI.
The payments were made in cash to avoid any paper trails.
After receiving the money, Ng helped ISS obtain several jobs by telling Chin to quote sums below $6,000 for each of them.
He gave her such instructions so that he could directly award the jobs to ISS without having to conduct an ITQ or tender.
Between April 2021 and February 2023, Ng directly awarded to ISS five jobs involving the quarterly maintenance of CCTV cameras at SJI. The total value of these jobs was more than $16,000.
In September 2021, ISS was awarded a job involving the supply of walkie-talkies to SJI. The value of this job was around $6,000.
Three months later, the company was awarded one more job involving the installation of a CCTV camera system for a new guardhouse at SJI. The value of this job was more than $5,000.
Without revealing details, the prosecutor added that in September 2022, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau received information that Ng was involved in graft-related offences.
The bureau then looked into the matter, and Chin, Ng, Ooi and Song were later charged in court in 2025
Chin’s bail was set at $10,000 on March 4, and she is expected to begin serving her sentence on March 9.
