Charged with Corruption involving $1.24 million
On 24 July 2020, Foo Yung Thye Henry (Fu Yongtai Henry) (符永泰, 46-year-old male Singaporean) [“Foo”], a former Deputy Group Director of the Land Transport Authority (LTA), was charged in Court with the following offences:
a) Between 2014 and 2019, corruptly obtaining gratification in the form of loans from contractors/sub-contractors of the LTA totalling approximately $1.24 million, to advance the contractors/sub-contractors’ business interests with the LTA; 22 charges punishable under Section 6(a) read with Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).
b) Sometime in early 2019, corruptly attempting to obtain gratification in the form of a loan of around $30,000 from a sub-contractor of the LTA, to advance the sub-contractor’s business interest with the LTA; one charge punishable under Section 6(a) read with Section 7 of the PCA.
c) Between 2008 and 2019, cheating various of his colleagues at the LTA into extending loans totalling approximately $726,500 to him, by dishonestly concealing from them that the loans were intended to service his gambling habit and debts; 13 amalgamated charges punishable under Section 420 of the Penal Code (PC).
2 In relation to the alleged PCA offences committed by Foo, six individuals and a company were correspondingly charged as well. They are as follows:
a) Cai Jungang (蔡军刚, 56-year-old, male People’s Republic of China national) [“Cai”], Director of Tritech Engineering & Testing (Singapore) Pte Ltd [“Tritech”] at the material time. Cai corruptly gave gratification in the form of loans totalling approximately $285,000 to Foo, as inducement to advance the business interest of Tritech with the LTA; seven charges punishable under Section 6(b) read with Section 7 of the PCA.
b) Zhang Xihu (张喜虎, 52-year-old, male Singaporean) [“Zhang”], Director of MEPT Engineering Pte Ltd [“MEPT”] at the material time. Zhang corruptly gave gratification in the form of loans totalling approximately $325,000 to Foo, as inducement to advance the business interest of MEPT with the LTA; seven charges punishable under Section 6(b) read with Section 7 of the PCA.
c) Pay Teow Heng (白朝榮, 52-year-old, male Singaporean) [“Pay’] and Pek Lian Guan (白連源, 55-year-old, male Singaporean) [“Pek”], respectively the Director and Managing Director of Tiong Seng Contractors (Private) Limited [“Tiong Seng”] at the material time. Pay conspired with Pek to corruptly give gratification in the form of loans totalling approximately $350,000 to Foo, as inducement to advance the business interest of Tiong Seng with the LTA; two charges each punishable under Section 6(b) read with Section 7 and Section 29(a) of the PCA.
d) Ro Sungyoung (48-year-old, male Republic of Korea national) [“Ro”] and Kim Young-Gyu (51-year-old, male Republic of Korea national) [“Kim”], respectively the Project Manager and Project Director of Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co Ltd [“Daewoo”] at the material time. Ro conspired with Kim to corruptly give gratification in the form of loans totalling approximately $50,000 to Foo, as inducement to advance the business interest of Daewoo with the LTA; two charges each punishable under Section 6(b) read with Section 7 and Section 29(a) of the PCA.
e) China Railway Tunnel Group Co., Ltd. (Singapore Branch) [“CRTG”]. The company corruptly gave gratification in the form of loans totalling approximately $220,000 to Foo, as inducement to advance the business interest of CRTG with the LTA; three charges punishable under Section 6(b) read with Section 7 of the PCA.
3. Furthermore, in relation to the offences involving the payments from CRTG, Chen Xuguang (陈旭光, 53-year-old, male Singaporean), Director of Tong Sheng Construction & Trading Pte Ltd [“Tong Sheng”] at the material time, was also charged with abetting the falsification of Tong Sheng invoices; two charges punishable under Section 477A of the PC. Tong Sheng was a subcontractor of CRTG.
4. Singapore adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and fraud. Bribery, cheating and the falsification of accounts are serious offences. Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence can be fined up to $100,000 or sentenced to imprisonment of up to 5 years or to both. The maximum imprisonment term for each offence of corruption can be increased to 7 years if it is in relation to a matter or contract with the Government or public body, or a subcontract to execute work comprised in such contract. Any person convicted of cheating under section 420 of the PC, or the falsification of accounts under section 477A of the PC, can be fined and imprisoned for up to 10 years.
5. The CPIB looks into all corruption complaints and reports, including anonymous ones, and can be reached via the following channels:
a) Write to us at the CPIB Headquarters @ 2 Lengkok Bahru, S159047 or Corruption Reporting & Heritage Centre @ 247 Whitley Road S297830;
b) Call the Duty Officer at 1800-376-0000;
c) Lodge an e-Complaint; or
d) Email us at report@cpib.gov.sg
6. Where possible, the report should include the following information:
a) Where, when and how the alleged corrupt act happened?
b) Who was involved and what were their roles?
c) What was the bribe given and the favour shown?
Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau