20 months’ jail for ex-Surbana Jurong employee who took S$50,500 in bribes over Sengkang BTO project

SINGAPORE — Between late 2018 and early 2021, a site supervisor in charge of approving works done by subcontractors at a Build-To-Order (BTO) public housing project took more than S$50,000 in bribes from them.

Seow Koon Thong, now aged 60, solicited the bribes in return for not showing them disfavour in assessing their work. If Seow had found fault with their work, it could have meant delays and additional costs for the firms involved.

On Thursday (Dec 29), Seow was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a penalty of S$50,500 after pleading guilty to four charges of taking gratification from seven of the subcontractors working on the Rivervale Shores BTO project in Sengkang. 

The fine was equivalent to the bribes he received.

Five other similar charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The court heard that in some cases Seow sent the directors of these companies text reminders to pay him the bribes. He took payments only in cash to ensure that no paper trail was left behind.

CONTRACTORS FELT PRESSURED TO PAY SEOW TO AVOID DELAYS, COSTS

Court documents stated that at that time, Seow was a resident technical officer (RTO), also known as a site supervisor, employed by Surbana Site Supervisors, a subsidiary of the Surbana Jurong Group, which in turn is wholly owned by state investor Temasek Holdings.

Resident technical officers are accredited professionals who work alongside engineers as site supervisors to monitor progress of construction projects and ensure compliance with construction safety regulations, among other things.

Seow's highest educational qualification was a diploma in occupational health and safety obtained from the Building and Construction Authority. He was earning S$5,500 a month and faced no financial difficulties.

In June 2018, Seow was assigned as lead RTO at the Rivervale project. His responsibilities included overseeing 10 other RTOs, who in turn oversaw the works of contractors and subcontractors.

He was entrusted to inspect and approve the works done, and was given the discretion to disagree with other RTO’s assessment of the said work, as well as to direct contractors to redo work.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew said that Seow knew that his withholding of approval could result in delays in payments for the subcontractors, or the risk they would have to pay penalties or spend more money to complete their work to his satisfaction.

Sometime in late 2019, Seow asked Mr Ang Sek Chai, director of subcontractor company MW Dynamics that was working on the project, to “work together”.

“Seow meant that Ang should pay him money in exchange for forbearing to show disfavour to MW in relation to Seow’s assessment of MW’s work at the Rivervale project,” said the prosecutor.

DPP Yew added that Mr Ang feared that if he did not comply, Seow would unduly withhold approval of the company’s work.

Hence, Mr Ang felt pressured and made payments across six occasions amounting to S$14,500 in total.

In 2019, Seow also proposed to Mr Yue Shien Chin, director of another subcontractor, Sun Power Electrical, to “work together”. 

“After Yue told Seow that he could only afford to give him S$15,000, Seow and Yue agreed to reduce the sum to S$15,000. Yue then gave Seow S$3,000 cash immediately,” said DPP Yew.

He added that Mr Yue faced similar pressures and concerns as Mr Ang did.

Seow also took S$5,000 each from two other subcontractors of the BTO project.

In total, Seow had obtained bribes totalling S$50,500 over 20 occasions from seven different subcontractors.

He was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), though no details were given on how his offences came to light.

DPP Yew said that Seow was not in any financial difficulty and had wanted the money for his personal expenses.

Out of the sum he received, Seow had spent S$15,450 while the remaining S$30,050 was seized by the CPIB. Seow had surrendered the equivalent amount that he spent to CPIB on Dec 13.

DPP Yew said that investigations did not disclose any defect or compromise in the quality of the work performed by the subcontractors in the Rivervale Shores project, which is still under construction.

It is unclear from court documents if the involved subcontractors have also been charged.

Seow could have been jailed for up to five years or fined up to S$100,000, or punished with both, for each count of corruption.