CPIB officer charged with misappropriating S$1.7m

SINGAPORE — A Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) Assistant Director was today (July 24) charged with 21 counts of criminal breach of trust, forgery and misappropriating property involving S$1.7 million, the largest amount of money in a case involving a CPIB official. Edwin Yeo Seow Hiong, 39, an assistant director with the Field Research and Technical Support (FRTS) Branch, asked for eight to 10 weeks to prepare representations and mitigation for himself and “settle his family problems” as he was only handed the charges yesterday. Yeo, who served in the Bureau for 15 years, also said that he has no intention of engaging legal counsel and asked for his bail of S$500,000 to be lowered as he posed a “no-flight” risk. At around 4 pm today, he was released on S$500,000 bail. Yeo left the court just before 7 pm, and was picked up by a friend in a car. Eight of the 21 charges Yeo is facing are for misappropriation. He had used the money to fuel his gambling habits between 2008 and 2009. Of the money involved, only S$67,000 was recovered. The case will be mentioned on Aug 21. The CPIB said that it first discovered signs of alleged wrongdoing by Yeo on Sept 14, 2012. He was suspended from duty and interdicted the following day after preliminary investigations. “As the accused was a CPIB officer and the alleged financial impropriety could have amounted to a criminal offence, the matter was reported to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force for an independent investigation to be conducted. This was to ensure that the investigation would be impartial and thorough,” the CPIB said. Added CPIB Director Eric Tan: “I am deeply sorry that a loss of public funds occurred during my watch. As the most senior officer in the agency, I accept responsibility for any lapses or deficiencies which allowed a senior staff’s actions to go undetected for four years. CPIB will learn from this. It will strengthen its safeguards and improve its processes to prevent this from happening again.” Following this incident, the Prime Minister appointed an Independent Review Panel to look into the circumstances that led to the loss of public funds, and to make recommendations on the CPIB’s financial administration and operations. The Panel has completed the review and submitted its report, the CPIB said. The Prime Minister has accepted its recommendations which are being implemented by the Bureau to strengthen its financial management and controls. Speaking to reporters at a visit to the Law Week exhibition at the Supreme Court, Law Minister K Shanmugam said it was human nature to be tempted, but that strong leadership had to be in place to ensure checks and balances are in place and that corruption does not spread like a "cancer". He said it was understandable for the public to be concerned about recent high-profile cases involving public servants, but that it was important that these cases were dealt with in a transparent way. Statement from the Prime Minister's Office: http://tdy.sg/163rHLN