Jail for project manager who sought confidential information from then-DSTA employee on S$3 million project

SINGAPORE: A project manager who obtained confidential information of a tender his company was bidding for from a then-Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) employee was jailed for four weeks on Friday (Oct 3), after a District Judge rejected his request for a fine.

Tan Kian Meng, 47, was the project manager of John Holland Electrical & Service (JHES), when he sought details for a project related to construction work at an army camp from ex-DSTA programme manager Hsu Yee Chern, 52. 

Tan pleaded guilty to two charges under the Official Secrets Act for receiving information from Hsu. 

Another two charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration for his sentencing. The information he received in these two charges relate to the financial status of another company and DSTA's internal tender evaluation findings for another camp project.

For his role, Hsu was jailed for four weeks on Jul 2, 2025. He resigned from DSTA after an initial suspension.  

DSTA, a statutory board under the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), handles the design, development and maintenance of defence buildings and infrastructure for MINDEF, including construction and renovation works for Singapore Armed Forces camps.

It is responsible for the procurement process, including looking for vendors and evaluating bids when there is a need for construction or renovation of infrastructure.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAN AND HSU

Hsu had joined DSTA in 2005 as an electrical engineer and was later promoted to programme manager.

He was involved in evaluating bids or tenders from vendors such as JHES.

Tan, as project manager of JHES, managed matters relating to manpower, materials, costing, scheduling and execution for the firm’s projects.

He came to know Hsu in 2014, when JHES worked on a construction project for DSTA at Pulau Tekong.

After the project was completed in 2015, the pair continued to meet at Tan's invitation for meals and drinks at places like bars and restaurants. 

Tan wanted to maintain a good relationship with Hsu, court documents stated. At times, a few other JHES staff would join the duo for these sessions.

Hsu attended at least five dinners at Tan's invitation between 2020 and 2022, held at Alibabar, a Teochew restaurant, Owen Seafood Restaurant, and high-end bar LeVel33. The expenses for the dinners were claimed from JHES.

"Hsu was aware that under DSTA’s policies, he must avoid being placed in a position where there could be potential conflict of interest, and not be overly friendly with vendors outside of work, or in his personal capacity," Deputy Public Prosecutor Ronnie Ang told the court.

Hsu knew he should decline treats from vendors or declare these meals to DSTA.

However, he did not, claiming that he attended these sessions as Tan's friend to celebrate staff birthdays or just to catch up.

STAGMONT CAMP PROJECT

One of the projects concerned power upgrading and renovations for an office building at Stagmont Camp.

Hsu had confidential information that DSTA's budget for the project was S$3 million (US$2.3 million). 

At around Mar 12, 2019, Tan initiated a discussion with Hsu over text on the project requirements. He sought advice on the tender requirements.

Hsu told Tan not to quote more than S$3 million. As a result, JHES was able to decide if it should bid for this project based on the estimated profit margin.

JHES eventually tendered for the project and submitted a quotation for S$2,615,000.

After the close of the tender submission, Tan asked Hsu for updates.

Hsu, as part of DSTA's tender evaluation team, came to know that DSTA had found JHES’ tender price too low, and that JHES’ tendered cable size was smaller than what was normally used by other contractors.

Hsu conveyed this information to Tan, who could have used the information to improve his company's prospects of securing the project.

However, JHES did not advance to the next stage of the tender and the project was not awarded to JHES.

Around Nov 21, 2022, a whistleblower informed DSTA that Hsu had a close relationship with JHES staff, including Tan; and that he had frequent drinking sessions with JHES employees and had been treated to dinner.

The whistleblower added that Hsu had helped JHES secure projects with DSTA.

The complaint was referred to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau on Dec 14, 2022.

Tan was arrested on Jan 18, 2023.

DEFENCE SEEKS FINE

The prosecution sought four to six weeks' jail for Tan, citing general deterrence as the dominant sentencing consideration.

Hsu and Tan's conduct "undermined fair and open competition for DSTA government projects" and also exposed DSTA to the risk of "not getting the best value for its projects in terms of price and quality", Mr Ang said.

Both also stood to gain from their offending conduct, added Mr Ang.

"Hsu gained the companionship of JHES staff (in particular Tan) through the drinking sessions, and also obtained at least five free meals paid by JHES between February 2020 and January 2022 which were not declared to DSTA.

"These drinking sessions and undeclared free meals were inappropriate and part of the quid pro quo (whether spoken or unspoken), cultivating the relationship between Hsu and Tan," Mr Ang said.

In mitigation, Tan's lawyers Devlin Mohyong, Cory Wong and Josephus Tan of Invictus Law Corporation, argued that a jail term was not warranted.

They sought a S$4,000 fine for their client instead.

If the court found a jail term should be imposed, Tan should be jailed no more than two to three weeks, the lawyers said.

In court, Mr Mohyong argued that the information Tan received was not highly sensitive in nature. He added that any potential gain on Tan's part was hypothetical because JHES did not win the tender bids.

In that vein, any harm or potential harm that might have been caused was "purely speculative", Mr Mohyong said.

Mr Mohyong told the court that there was no abuse of trust on his client's part, as he obtained his information as a private citizen and did not disseminate it.

Following the defence's mitigation, Mr Ang objected to a fine, arguing that the threshold for incarceration had been crossed.

Mr Ang said a fine would send a wrong message to the public.

District Judge Victor Yeo said that a jail term was warranted in Tan's case, adding that the predominant sentencing consideration was general and specific deterrence.

He found that the information communicated was of sufficiently high sensitivity as it was to do with budget and evaluation information relating to the tender process.

More importantly, the communication between Hsu and Tan had undermined fair and open competition for DSTA government projects, which puts projects at risk of not getting the best value, Judge Yeo said.

He noted that the offence was not "one-off", taking into account the other charges which had been taken into consideration.