3 men charged with deceiving authorities that working speed limiters were installed on buses
Two of the men were also charged with road traffic offences related to the speed limiters.
File photo of the State Courts in Singapore. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
SINGAPORE: Three men were charged on Monday (Dec 12) with deceiving the authorities that working speed limiters were installed on buses.
Teoh Sio Meng, 50, faces 12 charges of cheating, while Sundram Retnam, 50, and Tee Wei Chye, 44, face three and four charges of cheating respectively.
At the time of the offences, Teoh was the director of T & L Transit, Sundram was the sole proprietor of SV Bus Transportation Services and Tee was a mechanic at Leng Chong Engineering.
Between June 2017 and January 2018, the three men allegedly conspired to deceive a vehicle inspector from Vicom – a vehicle inspection firm – into believing that a working speed limiter had been installed on the bus.
The three men knew this was not true, thereby “intentionally inducing” the vehicle inspector to pass the bus for the Police Speed Limiter Test, said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).
The three men also allegedly deceived the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
Between July 2015 to January 2018, Teoh and Sundram allegedly deceived the LTA into believing that there were working speed limiters installed on various buses when there were none, said CPIB.
The LTA allowed the licence and road tax for those buses to be renewed as a result of Teoh and Sundram’s actions, said CPIB. Teoh allegedly cheated LTA on eight occasions, while Sundram is accused of deceiving the authority once.
Teoh is also accused of instigating a man on two occasions in June 2017 to deceive the LTA into believing there were working speed limiters installed on two buses when there were none. This meant the buses were allowed to be used in Singapore.
Sometime on or about Apr 17, 2018, Tee is alleged to have made the LTA believe that a cab partition was installed on a minibus for the purpose of complying for the law when he intended to remove it after inspection.
“On the same day, Tee was also alleged to have deceived the LTA into believing that another bus did not emit smoke density more than 40HSU (which would comply with the law) when Tee had intended to adjust the air-to-fuel ratio in the fuel pump of the bus after the inspection,” said CPIB.
"Tee’s alleged deceptions intentionally induced the LTA to allow licence and road tax to be renewed for both buses.”
Sundram and Tee were also charged with road traffic offences, with Sundram facing two counts and Tee facing one count.
Tee was accused of adjusting the speed limiter in a bus sometime in or before June 2017, allowing the bus to exceed 60kmh.
Sundram purportedly not only failed to ensure that the speed limiter in the same bus did not exceed the stipulated limit, but also knowingly drove it with the adjusted speed limiter.
Anyone convicted of cheating may be jailed for up to three years, fined or both.Â
If convicted of the road traffic offences, Tee and Sundram may be jailed for up to three months or fined up to S$1,000, if it was a first offence.
