Site supervisor gets jail after seeking S$50,500 in bribes from BTO subcontractors to approve their work

SINGAPORE: A site supervisor overseeing the work of contractors and subcontractors at a Housing Board Build-To-Order (BTO) project in Sengkang solicited S$50,500 in bribes from subcontractors in exchange for not withholding approval of their work.

Seow Koon Thong was sentenced to 20 months' jail on Thursday (Dec 29) and ordered to pay a penalty of S$50,500.

Seow, who resigned last year, pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining bribes under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Another five charges were considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Seow had a diploma in occupational safety and health from the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore and worked for Surbana Site Supervisors as a resident technical officer or site supervisor.

Surbana Site Supervisors provided resident technical officers to clients for on-site supervision of construction projects, and paid Seow S$5,500 a month.

HDB signed an agreement with Surbana Jurong Consultants in 2017 for consultancy services for the Rivervale Shores BTO project in Sengkang.

The project involved the building of 16 HDB flats with 2,500 units in Sengkang. As part of the consultancy services it provided, Surbana Jurong Consultants engaged Surbana Site Supervisors to provide site supervisors to oversee works at the BTO site.

Seow was assigned as lead resident technical officer at the Rivervale project, overseeing the work of contractors and subcontractors at all 16 HDB flats in the project from June 2018.

His responsibilities included overseeing 10 other resident technical officers who oversaw works carried out by contractors and subcontractors, ensuring their work progressed accordingly and by HDB's standards.

Seow was also tasked with physically inspecting and approving the work stated in the contractors and subcontractors' monthly progress reports and progress claims if he found the work to be satisfactory. He was to direct the contractors and subcontractors to redo work or perform additional work if necessary.

Seow knew that if he withheld approval for the work, there would be delays in payments due to the contractors and subcontractors.

The contractors and subcontractors would also be liable to pay penalties for late delivery of satisfactory work, or have to spend more money and resources to complete their work.

There were about 10 subcontractors performing work such as plumbing, gas and electrical installations at the Rivervale project under million-dollar contracts.

They were to be paid progressively and would receive instalment payments according to the stage of completion. They would receive the instalment payments only after Seow approved their work at each stage.

In late 2018, Seow suggested to a director of one of the subcontracting firms to "work together", implying that the director, Ang Sek Chai, should pay him money in exchange for Seow not showing disfavour to the subcontractor when assessing its work.

Ang understood what Seow meant and agreed to do so as he felt pressured by Seow. He feared that if he did not agree, Seow would cause his work to be delayed by withholding his approval of the work.

This would lead to increased manpower costs for redoing work and penalty payments imposed on the subcontractor by the main contractor for late delivery of work.

Seow took a total of S$14,500 in cash from Ang over six occasions between November 2018 and November 2019. He would send reminders to Ang over text messages to make payments.

Seow similarly solicited bribes from other subcontractors, who agreed to give the money as they felt pressured and feared work delays regarding the project.

He asked for cash and did not deposit it into his bank account so there would be no paper trail. He was not in any financial difficulty and used the money for his personal expenses, the prosecutor said.

In total, Seow took S$50,500 in cash from seven subcontractors. He spent S$15,450 on his own expenses, with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) seizing the remainder from him when it caught wind of the case.

Investigations did not disclose any defect or compromise in the quality of the work performed by the bribe-giving subcontractors in the Rivervale project, which is still under way.

None of the involved subcontractors' work "pertained to safety-related issues in the project", the court heard.

The prosecutor sought at least 20 months' jail for Seow, with a penalty order of S$50,500 to disgorge the criminal benefits.

He said Seow had actively solicited the bribes, with the subcontractors being pressured to give in to his demands.