The case against Bernard Lim Yong Soon, the National Parks Board (NParks) officer behind last year's Brompton bicycle procurement fiasco is headed for a Criminal Case Management Session (CCMS) to allow the defence and prosecution to sort out certain disputed facts and issues ahead of the next pre-trial conference (PTC) on Jan 8 next year.

This was decided at a PTC held in a district court on Thursday. The date of the CCMS will be on Dec 20.

In September this year, Lim, who oversaw the purchase of 26 of the foldable bicycles, said that he was claiming trial to the charge that he had lied to auditors investigating the deal. The 41-year-old had allegedly denied he was a friend of a director of Bikehop, the supplier of the bikes.

A second charge alleges that Lim had persuaded the director to give the same false information to the auditors, who as a result of the lies did not look further into the relationship between them. This happened between June and July last year, when Lim was being questioned over the controversial purchase of the folding bicycles, which cost NParks $2,200 each.

Investigations into the case, however, did not uncover any elements of corruption, the authorities had said in May.

Lim has been suspended on half-pay since July last year. If convicted of giving false information to public servants, he could be jailed for up to a year, fined up to $5,000, or both.