Businessman and an ex-cop jailed over attempted bribery of policeman, OSA offences
Yee Kok Siong was angry at his former employee for not honouring a bet that could have led to S$25,000 in winnings.
SINGAPORE — A businessman, who held a personal grudge against his ex-employee, offered a former police officer a S$4,000 bribe to assist in wrongfully arresting the man.
After Yee Kok Siong bribed Tan Bee Song, Tan in turn offered his former colleague, Shukor Warji, who was then a senior staff sergeant, a S$2,000 bribe to arrest Mr Hoon Tian Jie.
This series of events transpired after Yee fired Mr Hoon from his company in 2014 as he was unhappy that Mr Hoon did not honour a bet that could have led to S$25,000 in winnings. Yee was also upset that Mr Hoon spread rumours about him, causing his girlfriend to break up with him in 2016.
Yee, 35, and Tan, 42, who is now a private-hire car driver, both contested their respective corruption charges in court.
They claimed during their trial that they merely wanted to provide information on criminal offences that Mr Hoon might have committed, so that he would be investigated.
The pair were convicted of the charges in July.
On Wednesday (Nov 6), Yee was sentenced to two months behind bars while Tan was handed four months’ jail.
Yee was found guilty of offering Tan the bribe while Tan was convicted of taking it and trying to bribe Shukor.
Shukor was sentenced to one week’s jail in March last year for failing to arrest Tan. Another charge under the Official Secrets Act — for unauthorised communication of arrest information — was considered during his sentencing.
A police spokesperson told TODAY that Shukor was dismissed from the force in April last year, following his conviction.
In July, Tan pleaded guilty to another charge under the Official Secrets Act, with another charge taken into consideration for sentencing.
For offering bribes, Tan and Yee could be jailed up to five years, fined up to S$100,000, or both.
HOW THEY PLANNED THE 'ARREST'
Tan was a police officer from 1996 until early 2016, shortly before the offences were committed in July 2016.
He worked as an investigation officer in the Central Police Division’s unlicensed moneylending squad for five years — in the same department where Shukor worked.
Yee and Tan met each other around 2005 through Tan’s nephew, who was Yee’s friend.
In 2016, Yee asked Tan to meet him and told him about Mr Hoon. Two months later in July, they met again and Yee offered Tan the S$4,000.
Shortly after on July 31, Tan met Shukor and tried to bribe him with S$2,000. Tan also handed him a piece of paper with Mr Hoon’s details.
Shukor refused the bribe and did not arrest Mr Hoon.
In his defence, Tan testified that he asked Shukor to help him and Yee to give the police some information about Mr Hoon’s alleged crimes.
He told Shukor that he would then give him S$2,000 for helping him relay this information, which was his share of the $4,000 that Yee gave.
On his part, Yee said that he offered Tan the money to compensate him for running errands and because he pitied Tan’s financial situation then.
DON'T NEED MONEY TO GIVE POLICE A TIP-OFF
However, the prosecution led evidence from Shukor to prove that the offer of payments were just bribes.
Shukor testified that Yee wanted Mr Hoon arrested and offered the money as a reward.
Prosecutors tore down Yee’s defence, noting that one does not need to pay any money — let alone S$4,000 — to submit information to the police and Yee’s excuse that he had been away from Singapore for a few years and was unfamiliar with police procedures here was “an extraordinary claim”.
Before approaching Shukor, Tan had asked another investigation officer to help him. This officer told Tan that he would submit the information but did not accept the bribe, and later testified that he understood that Tan wanted Mr Hoon arrested.
