Two chefs who accepted bribes totalling some $14,000 from a seafood supplier were fined $10,500 and $5,000 respectively in a district court on Thursday.

Goh Chee Kong, 41, who received the heftier fine, and Chan Tak Ming, 46, were also ordered to pay penalties for the $11,286.95 and $3,156 which they took from Mr Tay Ee Tiong in exchange for continuing to order supplies from his company, Wealthy Seafood Product and Enterprise. They have paid up in full.

Handing down the punishments, District Judge Mathew Joseph considered their guilty pleas and the fact that both men were first-time offenders.

Goh committed the offences as a master chef at Min Jiang at One North, in Rochester Park, while Chan, as an executive chef at Pine Garden restaurant, at The Pines Club in Stevens Road.

Between 2006 and 2009, Tay, 56, paid bribes totalling $992,404 to 19 chefs from 17 hotels and restaurants. He was jailed for 18 months in September 2011 and has served his sentence. At least six other chefs who received bribes from him have been fined and ordered to pay penalties, with at least three others jailed.

The maximum penalty for the offence is a five-year jail term and a $100,000 fine.