2 former FairPrice employees charged with receiving bribes of more than S$500,000 from fish suppliers

SINGAPORE: Two former employees of grocery chain NTUC FairPrice were charged on Friday (May 6) after they allegedly received more than S$500,000 in bribes from fish suppliers over seven years.

Three other people linked to the fish supply business will also be charged in connection with these alleged offences.

Lim Kian Kok, 47, and See Hock Lam, 69, were working as senior team leader and team leader respectively at the company at the time of the offences, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a news release.

They were accused of conspiring to corruptly obtain bribes of about S$532,000 from various individuals involved in the fish supply industry from 2013 to 2020.

“The gratification was allegedly obtained as inducement for (Lim) to further the business interests of various fish suppliers with NTUC FairPrice,” CPIB said.

Lim received 34 charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Of these, 31 are linked to his alleged acts of conspiring with See.

The remaining charges were for purportedly obtaining bribes of about S$28,300 from other people in the fish supply business in 2020, also to help further their business interests with FairPrice.

See received 31 charges.

The three other people charged in connection with Lim and See’s alleged offences are 47-year-old Chew Kim Hwee, 65-year-old Heah Han Huat and 57-year-old Ng Keng Meng.

Chew, who was a director of Fish Vision Agro-tech, will face two charges for conspiring to corruptly give Lim bribes of about S$26,900 in 2020.

Heah, who was sole proprietor of Ocean Trust Trading, and Ng, who was a partner of Nam Soon Sin Kee & Co, will each face eight charges for corruptly giving Lim bribes of S$43,500 and S$217,500 respectively from 2013 to 2020.