One such case involved NTUC FairPrice employees.

In 2020, CPIB received information from a member of the public alleging that Lim Kian Kok, a senior team leader of NTUC FairPrice at the time, had been purchasing significantly more fish from Ngow Chun Siong, an employee with Fish Vision Agro-tech, in return for Ngow paying for Lim’s entertainment expenses.

CPIB’s investigations found that Lim and his subordinate, See Hock Lam, obtained gratification amounting to about $523,000 from various fish suppliers between 2013 and 2020 in exchange for procuring more fish and seafood from these suppliers, including Fish Vision, on behalf of NTUC FairPrice.

The ill-gotten gains were split between Lim and See.

Both Lim and See pleaded guilty to their offences. Lim was sentenced to four years and five months’ jail, and ordered to pay a penalty of $289,843.10, while See was sentenced to three years and two months’ jail, and ordered to pay a penalty of S$261,500.

The conviction rate for CPIB cases in 2022 was 99 per cent, up from the 98 per cent and 97 per cent in 2021 and 2020 respectively.

The bureau also said it takes a tough stance against public officers who abuse their authority for self-gratification, citing its handling of the case of a police full-time national serviceman (NSF), which demonstrated the strong co-operation between CPIB and agencies within the public service to weed out errant officers.

In 2022, CPIB received information from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) alleging that Fahd Siddiqui, a police NSF deployed at Orchard Neighbourhood Police Centre, had misused his warrant card while off-duty in his attempt to corruptly obtain sexual services from three social escorts in return for not taking enforcement action against them.

“Prompt action by the SPF enabled CPIB to secure interviews with the social escorts involved before they left Singapore,” said the bureau, adding that this allowed it to quickly retrieve CCTV footage from two hotels before they were overwritten by new recordings.

Fahd was charged in court on Nov 24, 2022 for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and subsequently pleaded guilty to his offences. His sentencing is still pending.