Security guard charged with trying to get bribe from condo visitor who did not check in via TraceTogether

SINGAPORE: A security guard is accused of trying to get a bribe from a condominium visitor when the latter entered without checking in on the TraceTogether application.

At around the same time, the guard allegedly told the visitor that he was an undercover "high-ranking officer of the Singapore Police Licensing Sector" and told him he would be investigated for illegal entry into the condo and having sex with a student in a toilet.

Malaysian Ganesan Gunasagaran, 33, was handed three charges in court on Monday (Feb 21). These are for attempting to obtain a bribe, putting a person in fear of harm to commit extortion and personating a police officer.

According to a statement by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), Ganesan was a senior security officer deployed at the Seahill condominium in 119 West Coast Crescent at the time on Oct 19, 2021.

According to charge sheets, Ganesan tried to obtain a bribe from a man who had entered the condo without checking in using TraceTogether. Ganesan allegedly stated that he was a "high-ranking officer of the Singapore Police Licensing Sector" and working undercover.

Ganesan is also accused of extorting S$10,000 from the man by telling him he would be investigated for illegal entry into the condo and having sex with a student in a condo toilet.

Ganesan, who had no lawyer, told the court via a Tamil interpreter that his mistake was "when there was communication via WhatsApp".

"I admit I replied but I did not receive any monies," he said.

When asked if he was accepting the prosecution's plea offer, Ganesan said: "Your honour, when he entered, I did ask him how come you doing this kind of illegal entry, and I asked if he did this kind of illegal entry before. This was all via WhatsApp."

He later said he was not ready to plead guilty, and the case was fixed for a pre-trial conference. He was offered bail of S$20,000 and will return to court next month.