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AMKTC corruption case: Jail terms increased for former general manager, company director after appeals

AMKTC corruption case: Jail terms increased for former general manager, company director after appeals

Former Ang Mo Kio Town Council general manager Wong Chee Meng (left) and company director Chia Sin Lan. (Photos: Najeer Yusof/TODAY)

SINGAPORE: The jail terms for a former general manager of Ang Mo Kio Town Council (AMKTC) and a company director who plied him with bribes for projects have been increased by a year each after appeals by both men and the prosecution.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on Thursday (Jul 16) increased the jail term for former AMKTC general manager Victor Wong Chee Meng, 60, from 27 months to 39 months.

The imprisonment term for company director Chia Sin Lan, 65, was increased from 21 months to 33 months.

READ: AMKTC corruption case: Both sides appeal, prosecution seeks to increase the jail terms

In his verdict, Chief Justice Menon set out a sentencing framework for such offences and laid out how he applied this to the current case.

He noted several factors, including the "substantial benefits" gleaned by Chia and Wong's intervention to ensure Chia's interests were protected "or even advanced".

The pair had pleaded guilty midway into a trial, with Wong admitting to receiving more than S$86,000 in bribes from Chia between December 2014 and September 2016.

Most of this was in entertainment expenses of about S$34,000, with Chia taking Wong out to KTV lounges, massage parlours and restaurants.

In return, Chia's two companies 19-ANC and 19-NS2 were awarded more town council projects with AMKTC by Wong's overt recommendation or his highlighting of competitors' flaws.

The two companies were fined S$75,000 each for their roles, and Wong was ordered in November to pay a penalty of about S$23,000 by May 2020 for bribes, which included a car discount and entertainment expenses.

Chief Justice Menon said that harm was caused to the competitors vying for town council projects, as they were competing on unequal terms.

However, while he said the offences are serious, the scope of corruption was isolated to Wong.

He said the district judge was not correct to state that a charge where money was remitted to Wong's mistress was less serious.

He added that the district judge was also not correct to focus on a sum of S$7,000 - said to be Wong's personal share of entertainment expenses - rather than the total sum of S$34,000 as stated in the charge.

Chief Justice Menon said the offence was fairly sophisticated and involved premeditation and a cultivation of Wong by Chia over a significant amount of time.

BOTH MEN MOTIVATED BY GREED: CHIEF JUSTICE

Both men were "ultimately motivated by greed", said Chief Justice Menon, with Wong abusing his position as general manager of the town council.

He said he did not accept arguments that the offences should be viewed in light of the men's friendship.

"I also express my doubts as to whether friendship has any mitigating value in corrupt transactions such as this," said the judge. 

"After all, a certain degree of proximity is almost inevitable in cases involving the cultivation of an agent. In that light, it seems perverse for the law to accord mitigating weight to a friendship which develops out of and in furtherance of their collaboration in a corrupt design."

He rejected the prosecution's argument to place no weight on the men's guilty plea because they pleaded guilty only midway throughout the trial.

The Chief Justice also turned down a bid by the prosecution to enforce payment of a S$23,400 penalty made by the district judge on Wong. The penalty was meant to be paid by May 2020 for gratification received, including a discount on a car and expenses paid for during his outings with Chia.

He said the prosecution could have chosen to defer the issue of any orders if Wong failed to pay his penalty, such as a default jail term or an order to enforce payment, and deal with it later.

"Instead, it failed to do so, and a default order was made and there was no suggestion that the district judge erred in making it," said Chief Justice Menon.

He also turned down a request by Chia for the money seized by CPIB from his companies 19-ANC and 19-NS2 to be released, saying there is no basis for him to deal with this as the companies are not parties in these appeals.

The prosecution had pushed for the jail terms to be increased to 48 months for Wong and 44 months for Chia.

Wong's lawyers Melanie Ho, Tang Shangwei and Janie Hui of WongPartnership asked instead for a jail term of 11 to 14 months' jail for Wong, while lawyers Eugene Thuraisingam, Chooi Jing Yen and Hamza Malik asked for a year's jail for Chia.

Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence can be fined up to S$100,000 or be sentenced to imprisonment of up to five years, or both, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau previously said. 

As this case involved gratification received in relation to Government contracts, Wong and Chia could have been given the enhanced maximum penalty of a fine of up to S$100,000, imprisonment of up to seven years, or both.

Source: CNA/ll(mi)

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