3 ex-ST Marine senior execs charged with graft

SINGAPORE — Government-linked defence conglomerate Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering was rocked by a corruption scandal yesterday, after three former high-ranking executives from its subsidiary ST Marine were charged with bribery and falsifying accounts.

The charges came about three years after ST Engineering made publicthat some of its employees were being investigated by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

The scandal has cast the spotlight on the conduct of Singapore government-linked companies overseas, with ST Marine staff shocked by the alleged offences of its former top executives. Staff interviewed by TODAY said they had learnt of the developments yesterday in an email from the management.

Former ST Marine group financial controller and senior vice-president (finance) Ong Tek Liam, 58, former ST Marine president Chang Cheow Teck, 54, and former senior vice-president (Tuas Yard) Mok Kim Whang, 64, were charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) and Penal Code.

Ong, who was with the company from April 2007 to December 2012, faces 118 counts of making false petty-cash claims for entertainment expenses of more than S$500,000 in total, when there were none. It is unclear whether she kept the money for herself or used it to bribe others.

Chang was charged with three counts of corruption for giving S$273,778 in bribes, while Mok was hit with one charge for paying S$43,721 in bribes. These bribes went to ST Marine’s customers in return for granting the subsidiary ship-repair contracts.

Chang was with ST Marine from March 2008 to April 2010, while Mok was employed from June 2000 to July 2004. The three are accused of committing the offences between 2004 and 2010.

Based on charge sheets from the State Courts, three other former employees — Teh Yew Shyan, See Leong Teck and Patrick Lee — were named as those who had conspired with the three being charged.

In response to TODAY’s queries, ST Marine said Teh had since died, while See and Lee retired in 2008 and 2012, respectively.

In 2011, Lee was arrested by the CPIB. ST Engineering had said then that he was not charged and was released on bail and granted permission to leave Singapore. He was subsequently allowed to return to the United States in September the same year to resume his responsibilities as chief financial officer of VT Systems, a holding company for ST Engineering’s aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine interests in the US.

In a statement yesterday, ST Engineering, which is listed on the Singapore Exchange, sought to downplay the impact, saying the charges against the former employees of ST Marine are not expected to have any material financial impact on the group for the financial year ending Dec 31.

“ST Engineering is committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and recognises that fraud is detrimental to the reputation of the ST Engineering Group. ST Engineering does not condone fraud, including corruption and bribery, and is fully committed to proactively mitigating the risk of its occurrence,” it added.

While ST Engineering has won awards for best corporate governance, corporate governance expert Professor Mak Yuen Teen of the National University of Singapore said good compliance processes are no guarantee that people will keep in line. Three factors come into play — the nature of the industry, interaction with overseas governments, and the remuneration system, he said.

“When you have a company with businesses in defence, they tend to deal with a lot of government procurement and subsequently get exposed to public-sector corruption. A lot of civil servants overseas are not well paid, so the risk of bribery and corruption in some countries is high,” said Prof Mak.

“Compliance is not enough. If staff are set aggressive targets or paid in a way where they aim for profits, then they may not pay heed to compliance as much,” he added.

ST Marine said staff were briefed yesterday to uphold their ethical responsibilities in their business dealings.