Cop among 5 charged with corruption, violating OSA
Photo: Reuters
SINGAPORE — A police officer and two ex-cops were among five men charged with a total of 19 counts of corruption and violation of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) in two separate cases on Thursday (June 15).
The officer and former cops had allegedly abused their power to give favours and unauthorised information in return for bribes.
In the first case, Senior Staff Sergeant Shukor Warji, 46, faces one charge of failing to arrest a former police officer who had offered him a S$2,000 bribe to wrongfully arrest someone, and one charge of unauthorised communication of arrest
information.
The ex-officer himself, Tan Bee Song, 40, has been charged with one count each of bribing Shukor; receiving unauthorised information from him; agreeing to receive a S$4,000 bribe from another person, and unauthorised communication of arrest information to a third party.
A third accused, businessman Yee Kok Siong, 32, was also charged with corruption for allegedly offering Tan, a former police senior staff sergeant, a S$4,000 bribe last July to get a man wrongfully arrested.
In a separate case, former police station inspector Lam Guo Long Terence was charged with two counts of unauthorised communication of restricted photos of suspects arrested for rioting to dispatch driver Lim Sua Huat.
In October 2015, Lam, 37, was said to have shown Lim the photos of 13 people who had been arrested on rioting offences, and sent, via Whatsapp, to him five pictures of the arrested persons on January last year.
The ex-station inspector also faces another two counts of corruptly receiving a S$500 bribe from Lim, and one count of failing to arrest the dispatch driver who had given him the bribe.
Lim, 61, faces four counts of corruption and three other charges for contravening the OSA.
If convicted of offering and receiving the bribes, Lim, Lam, Tan and Yee could face a jail term of up to five years, and/or a fine of up to S$100,000.
If found guilty of failure to arrest a person for bribing, Lam and Shukor could be sentenced to a jail term of up to six months, or fined up to S$5,000, or both.
For failure to comply with the OSA, Lim, Lam, Tan and Shukor could face a jail sentence of up to two years, and/or a fine of not exceeding S$2,000.
All five, who are out on bail, will next appear in court on July 6.
