12 people charged with taking S$290,000 in bribes as part of fuel heist from Shell's Pulau Bukom refinery

SINGAPORE — Twelve people were charged on Thursday (April 14) with accepting bribes totalling at least US$213,000 (about S$290,500) as part of a decade-long alleged S$200 million marine fuel heist from Shell Eastern Petroleum's Pulau Bukom refinery.

The 12 people were employees of surveying companies engaged by Shell to inspect the volume of oil loaded onto the vessels to which Shell supplied oil, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a press release.

They had allegedly accepted the bribes as “inducement or rewards for refraining from accurately reporting the amount of oil loaded onto vessels which their respective companies were engaged by Shell to inspect”, CPIB said.

The 12 are accused of accepting the bribes directly or through intermediaries from three former employees of Shell — Juandi Pungot, Muzaffar Ali Khan Muhamad Akram and Richard Goh between 2014 and 2017, who are said to have been the key planners of the scheme that began in 2007.

The scheme involved the siphoning of more than 300,000 tonnes of gas oil — a type of fuel used on ships and other vessels — worth at least S$200 million, previous court hearings have been told.

Juandi, who admitted in the High Court to 36 charges stemming from the misappropriation of S$127.7 million worth of marine gas oil on Feb 8, was sentenced to 29 years’ imprisonment last month for multiple offences, including corruption and laundering benefits from criminal conduct.

Muzaffar’s and Goh’s court cases are pending.

The 12 people charged are:

• A Duraisamy, 60, a Singaporean, who was a surveyor with Intertek Testing Services and Inspectorate Singapore. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$31,000 and faces three corruption charges
• Jasbir Singh Paramjit Singh, 37, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with Intertek. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$15,000 and faces one corruption charge
• Anand Omprekas, 39, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with Intertek and CCIC Singapore. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling S$20,000 and faces two corruption charges
• Noruliman Bakti, 40, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with Intertek and CCIC. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$25,000 and faces two corruption charges
• Muhammad Ali Muhammad Nor, 55, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with Intertek. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$90,000 and faces faces two corruption charges. He is also accused of spending S$39,000 of the bribe money on a BMW car
• Erwin Suhardi Jamaluddin, 38, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with Intertek. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$10,000 and faces two corruption charges
• Lee Been Lian, 57, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with Intertek. He allegedly accepted a bribe of US$5,000 and faces one corruption charge
• Naushad Carrim Tengur, 45, a Singapore permanent resident who was a surveyor with Inspectorate. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$6,000 and faces one corruption charge
• Muhammad Khairul Asri Mohamad Hanafiah, 38, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with Inspectorate. He allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$6,000 and faces one corruption charge
• Kumunan Rethana Kumaran, 40, a Singaporean surveyor with CCIC who allegedly accepted bribes totalling US$12,000. He faces one corruption charge
• Paramanandham Srinivasan, 39, an Indian national who was a surveyor with SGS Testing & Control Services Singapore. He allegedly accepted a bribe of US$3,000 and faces one corruption charge
• Rizal Zulkeflee, 38, a Singaporean who was a surveyor with SGS. He allegedly accepted a bribe of US$10,000 and faces one corruption charge 

Court documents show that four of the accused — Anand, Noruliman, Erwin and Muhammad Khairul Asri — have indicated that they will be pleading guilty.

CPIB said: “Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence can be fined up to S$100,000 or sentenced to imprisonment of up to five years or to both.” 

The bureau looks into all corruption-related complaints and reports, including anonymous ones, and can be reached by email at report [at] cpib.gov.sg or by phone at 1800-376-0000.