SINGAPORE: A senior vice-president of a company that manufactured plastic parts was fined by a court on Tuesday (Apr 4) for continuing the corrupt practice of giving a S$5,000 (US$3,771) red packet to a manager of another business for smoother inspections.

The practice had been installed by another employee, who passed on the instructions for the bribe-giving arrangement when she was leaving the company.

Then-senior vice-president of Honfoong Plastic Industries, Tea Lay Sin Serene, was fined S$13,000 for her act.

Tea, a 52-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one count of giving corrupt gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court heard that the company, Honfoong Plastic Industries, manufactured plastic parts for household products, medical equipment and automotive equipment.

In 2002, Honfoong began supplying plastic parts to Japan Medical Supplies for use in their dialysis equipment.

Three years later, section manager of Japan Medical Supplies Danny Lim Heng Jew began interacting with Honfoong staff and visited Honfoong’s production plant in Batam to ensure the quality of plastic parts which Honfoong was to deliver to Japan Medical Supplies.

Deputy managing partner of Honfoong at the time, co-accused Toh Mui Lan, was placed in charge of the Japan Medical Supplies account.

Toh, a 62-year-old Singaporean, heard from her subordinates that Mr Lim was being strict and critical with Honfoong staff and had a tendency to find fault with Honfoong’s production processes.

This caused Honfoong’s staff to expend considerable time and energy to meet his demands, in order to fulfil Japan Medical Supplies’ orders.

Toh came up with an idea in 2010 to give a red packet to Mr Lim during the Chinese New Year period, to placate him and ensure a smooth business relationship.

She obtained approval from co-accused Wong Liang Tong, the founder and director of Honfoong, to give a red packet containing S$5,000 to Mr Lim in 2010.

Toh realised that Mr Lim became markedly less strict with Honfoong staff after receiving the first red packet.

He would even render additional advice to Honfoong staff, even though this was not under his scope of work. Instead of identifying issues for Honfoong staff to resolve on their own as he used to do, he began constructively engaging the employees to find solutions to any problems together.

Toh obtained her boss’ approval to give annual red packets to Mr Lim during the Chinese New Year period from 2011 to 2018.

In August 2018, Honfoong was acquired by another company, Jubilee Industries Holdings.

TEA TAKES OVER ACCOUNT

Toh resigned and Tea took over the Japan Medical Supplies account from Toh. 

While Toh was serving her six-month notice period, Toh told Tea about her pre-existing arrangement to give annual red packets to Mr Lim during Chinese New Year.

Tea understood that approval had been given to continue giving these red packets to Mr Lim, and she also knew that she was not supposed to be giving cash directly to him.

On Dec 26, 2019, a subordinate told Tea that Mr Lim was “asking that thing every year”. Tea instructed the subordinate to arrange for a dinner meeting with Mr Lim at a hotel on Jan 3, 2020.

Before the dinner, Tea collected S$5,000 in cash from an administrative and accounts clerk at Honfoong.

During the meal, she passed Mr Lim a red packet containing the sum of money, after having the other employees excused from the table so they could be alone.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau caught wind of the case and all involved were charged, except for Mr Lim, who died in March 2020.

The prosecutor sought a fine of between S$15,000 and S$25,000 for Tea, noting that she had committed the unsophisticated offence on one occasion.

She also did not initiate the corrupt arrangement, but the case involves a transnational element as Honfoong’s production plant was in Batam, Indonesia.

The cases for Toh and Wong are pending.