Bidadari BTO subcontractor fined for bribing construction firm for fear of 'trouble'

SINGAPORE: A director of a construction firm that was subcontracted to work on Build-to-Order (BTO) flats in Bidadari was on Friday (Mar 28) fined S$18,000 for graft.

Hua Li, 45, worked for Heng Sheng Construction and Engineering (HSCE), a firm specialising in structural works and sewage piping at the time of the offence.

His co-accused, Wong Wei Chern, 39, was employed by Rich Construction Company, which primarily built Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats.

Hua admitted in court to corruptly giving Wong a total of S$7,000. He pleaded guilty to one charge of corruption, with one more charge considered for sentencing.

The court heard that in 2016, HDB appointed Rich Construction Company as the main contractor for 1,789 flats in the Bidadari housing estate. Wong was the project manager for two of the three contracts awarded to the firm for these works.

In August that year, Rich Construction Company awarded HSCE a subcontract valued at more than S$2.2 million to perform reinforced concrete structural works at the Bidadari worksite.

In June 2017, Wong approached Hua for a loan of S$5,000 as he was facing financial difficulties. He promised to pay Hua back in one to two months' time.

"Hua admitted to believing that Wong 'might create trouble' for HSCE, as he knew that the latter's oversight responsibilities extended to areas of safety, work quality, and the approval of progress claims," stated court documents.

"Hua further admitted to hoping that Wong could 'help' him in future at the worksite."

He therefore agreed to give Wong a loan "to refrain from causing difficulties for HSCE" in relation to its works at the Bidadari estate, and transferred S$5,000 to Wong's bank account.

Investigations also showed that Hua had subcontracted a portion of HSCE's works to Hua Chen Construction. Sometime in 2018, Hua Chen stopped performing these works as it was facing cashflow issues.

As a result of this, in July 2018, Rich Construction Company terminated HSCE's subcontract for this portion of works and appointed a new subcontractor. HSCE was contractually obligated to pay the new subcontractor.

Hua had tried to find other construction companies to replace Hua Chen, but was unsuccessful. In June 2018, he sent Wong a WhatsApp message asking him to "press" the new subcontractor "a bit on price" to minimise HSCE's financial losses.

Wong was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in November 2019. He did not repay Hua's loans before that.

"Hua admitted that he did not ask Wong for repayments as he did not wish to 'spoil' the relationship he had with Wong, who was the site's project manager," stated court documents.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Wong asked for a fine of at least S$28,000 to reflect the loss of confidence in Singapore's public administration caused by Hua's actions.

He argued that Hua further sought to leverage on the corrupt relationship by sending Wong the June 2018 WhatsApp message to exercise influence over him. He also argued that Hua was not pressured into giving the corrupt loans.

Hua's lawyer Vijay Kumar told the court that his client was put in a "difficult position" when Hua Chen only completed 70 per cent of the works it was subcontracted to do.

He said that Hua's message to Wong to "press" on the price was a "colloquial term" that was not meant to "squeeze" Wong. He also said that the end result was "nothing" as Wong was unable to influence the price.

In sentencing, Judge Victor Yeo said a high fine was appropriate to send a strong message to deter like-minded offenders.

Mr Kumar informed the court that his client had made voluntary restitution of S$7,000 to CPIB, and asked that the fine be offset by this amount.

The judge granted this request, and ordered Hua to pay the balance of S$11,000.