Former St Joseph's Institution facilities manager who received at least S$67,000 in bribes jailed

SINGAPORE: An ex-facilities manager at St Joseph's Institution (SJI) was jailed for 15 months and four weeks' on Thursday (Oct 30) for receiving bribes of at least S$67,000 (US$51,600) from vendors contracted to carry out projects at the school.

For more than four years, Ng Cher Him, 58, would ask vendors to mark up their quotation submitted to SJI, with the markup to be paid to him as gratification.

He pleaded guilty to four charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, with another five charges of a similar nature taken into consideration for sentencing. Apart from the jail term, Ng was ordered to pay a penalty of S$7,500. If he cannot pay the penalty, he will have to serve four additional weeks in jail. 

SJI, located at 38 Malcolm Road, is an educational institution. As facilities manager there, Ng oversaw the general upkeep, maintenance and improvement work on its facilities, along with vendor management. Ng had around six employees reporting to him.

Due to his job role, Ng had a "substantial degree of influence in the procurement process for facilities-related goods and services in SJI", according to court documents.

He invited vendors for jobs and projects and supported the direct award of jobs to vendors for those with a purchase value below S$6,000. For those above S$6,000, Ng would recommend that tenders for projects be awarded to certain vendors in his reports.  

He would get vendors to mark up their quotations submitted to SJI, with the markup paid to him. "In other words, the offences caused the amounts paid by SJI to be inflated in order to fund the gratifications ultimately paid to the accused," said the prosecution. 

To award jobs to preferred vendors, Ng would reveal the school's budget for a job, or reveal a competitor's bid, or advise vendors how to craft their quotations to meet the school's required specifications. He also recommended awarding projects to certain vendors.

He told vendors to pay markups to him in cash to avoid leaving a paper trail.

For more than four years - around 2018 to 2022 - Ng obtained bribes of at least S$67,100 over 31 occasions from three different vendors.

Three people alleged to have given Ng bribes - Renee Song Mui Kuan, Ooi Kim Wei, and Margaret Chin Lee Lan - were charged alongside Ng in September. Their cases are pending.

Song, 53, was a sales manager with FB Services, which was later taken over by Furnishing & Building Services. Song had run the business with her husband.

In 2018, Ng approached Song to suggest bribes. Song agreed for fear that Ng would stop awarding jobs to her company or recommending it for projects at SJI.

Ooi, 48, was a director of EuconAir Services. He approached Ng in 2020 to offer him money in exchange for projects at SJI. Ng later informed him of a project related to the upgrading of the kitchen hood exhaust systems of the food stalls at SJI. He told Ooi to submit a quotation and to mark up the price.

Chin, 71, handled the sales, operations and accounting matters at Integrated Security Solution Asia Pacific. In 2019, Ng invited Chin to submit a quotation and also asked her to arrange for two more quotations with higher prices from other companies to be submitted to SJI for projects related to the supply and installation of closed-circuit television in its library. 

Chin subsequently roped in two companies for the scheme. 

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau received information about Ng's alleged corruption and commenced an investigation against him on Sep 30, 2022.

On Nov 2, 2023, Ng voluntarily resigned from SJI.

He claimed he committed the crimes as he needed money to pay mounting personal debts and huge family expenses. Ng voluntarily surrendered S$59,600 to the state in September this year.

A person convicted of corruption can be fined up to S$100,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.