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SINGAPORE: For a decade, a man who worked at a construction company acted as an intermediary, delivering bribes of more than S$760,000 (US$554,443) to a director from Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS).
Too Say Kiong, 57, had continued a corrupt practice started by his late father Toh Siang Bee before 2005. Too was a foreman at Shin Yong Construction, which his father set up.
Under the arrangement, the late Mr Toh would, via his son, give bribes to then director of facilities management at the Singapore Zoo, Barry Chong Peng Wee, alias Daniel Chong.
The Singapore Zoo is a subsidiary of WRS, which was renamed Mandai Wildlife Group in 2021.
The arrangement was to ensure that WRS jobs would be awarded to Shin Yong Construction.
Barry Chong, 54, had the power to approve the awarding of WRS jobs to contractors until 2013. From 2013, a procurement team was set up to take over this duty. However, the team was still heavily reliant on Barry Chong’s recommendations.
On Thursday (Oct 5), Too was jailed for 26 months after pleading guilty to 10 charges of engaging in a conspiracy with others to commit graft. Another 104 charges of a similar nature were considered for his sentencing. Too’s offences spanned from 2005 to 2015.
The court heard that after Mr Toh died in 2005, Too’s brother, Toh Say Yong, 68, took over, and arranged for WRS-related jobs to be awarded to Shin Yong Construction for a commission of about 10 per cent markup in the bid price given to WRS.
Barry Chong would tell Say Yong via Too a specific price to bid to ensure that the job would be awarded to Shin Yong Construction. Barry Chong would tabulate the commissions owed to him on a piece of paper, which he would give to Too. Too would hand the paper to his brother to prepare the money.
The money would then be placed in an envelope and Too would deliver this envelope to Barry Chong on a weekly basis.
Sometime in 2010 or 2011, Carol Chin Fong Yi, a facilities manager at the zoo, noticed that the prices on the quotations submitted by Shin Yong Construction and other contractors were very close to one another.
She conveyed her suspicions of price fixing to Too, who told Chin to “keep quiet and close one eye”.
He offered Chin a stack of S$50 notes, but Chin rejected the money. Sometime later, Too again met with Chin and offered her another stack of S$50 notes. Chin asked what the money was for and Too replied that her boss, Barry Chong, was also taking money.
“(Chin) then asked the accused whether the contractors had fixed the prices of the quotations among themselves, and he confirmed that they did. After hearing that (Barry Chong) received money from the accused, (Chin) also accepted money from the accused,” court documents read.
Too and his brother later agreed to pay Chin a monthly sum for her silence.
Between 2013 and 2014, Barry Chong and Too agreed to look for other contractors to participate in the corrupt arrangement.
Too approached Chong Chee Wai, the sole proprietor of Katana Engineering, and Lim Thiam Poh, the sole proprietor of Thiam Lee Tradings Construction. Both companies did renovation and maintenance works. Lim and Chong agreed to give bribes to Barry Chong.
Others were eventually roped in. Court documents listed seven individuals, including Barry Chong, as co-accused. Of these, only Chin has been dealt with while the rest have pending cases. Chin was jailed for nine months in March last year.
The corrupt arrangement only came to an end in October 2016, when the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau commenced investigations.
Over the period of the scheme, Shin Yong Construction were awarded S$9,089,651.90 in jobs, while the four other companies roped in were awarded between S$14,300 and S$2,271,000 in jobs. WRS was estimated to have suffered a loss of around S$1,400,000 as a result of the inflated invoices submitted under the corrupt scheme.
Too himself received between S$10,000 to S$20,000 from Lim and about S$10,000 from Chong for facilitating their corrupt arrangement with Barry Chong. He spent the money on daily expenses and gambling.
He gave S$760,270 in gratifications in total.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelvin Chong sought a jail term of between 24 and 30 months.
He said that due to the scheme, other contractors were deprived of opportunities to be awarded jobs at WRS.
Mr Chong pointed out that the accused had financially gained between S$20,000 and S$30,000, and had played a “substantial role” as an intermediary between WRS and Shin Yong Construction.
Too’s lawyer Tan Cheng Kiong said that the lengthy duration it took for the case to conclude had taken a toll on his client, who suffered from severe anxiety disorder.
“The fact that this case has been long stretched out significantly worsens his condition and he currently requires daily medication,” said Mr Tan.
In mitigation, Mr Tan said his client had cooperated with investigations and had been candid.
Mr Tan argued that while the amount was significant, his client had no control over the quantum as it was not his money.
In fact, Too had left the business over disagreements and the practices had continued without him, showing that his client’s role in the arrangement had not been critical, said Mr Tan.
However District Judge Lim Tse Haw disagreed, pointing out that Too’s role was significant.
“We are not talking about one or two occasions, there are a total of 114 occasions in which your client was involved in this arrangement and the quantum involved as pointed out by the prosecution, is a whopping sum … of more than S$700,000,” said the judge.
Mr Tan repeated that his client had no control over the amount, to which the judge said: “He has a choice not to participate.”
Mr Tan sought for a shorter jail term than what the prosecution proposed.
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