SINGAPORE — For about half of his 33-year employment at Keppel Shipyard, former senior procurement officer Neo Kian Siong obtained kickbacks for helping at least eight suppliers win orders with his firm.

Dangling “ang pows” or money, the suppliers would call Neo to ask for information on quotations submitted by their competitors so that they could undercut bids and win orders.

In one instance, Neo told a supplier that he would give him more business if he knew how to “zuo lang” — a Hokkien term which the supplier understood to mean to give Neo money.

By the time his corrupt practices were discovered, he had already collected bribes for 14 years.

The proceeds amassed came up to more than S$700,000, which he had used to pay outstanding loans of more than S$54,000 for a unit in Chantilly Rise condominium in Bukit Batok, and more than S$132,000 in deposits for two cars — a Honda Odyssey and a Volkswagen Passat.

He also used it to buy S$38,000 worth of shares belonging to Keppel Corporation, Tiger Airways, Liongold Corp and Innopac Holdings, and fund a number of insurance premiums.

These were revealed in court on Friday (Feb 15) as Neo, 63, pleaded guilty to 54 of 395 charges involving corruption and money laundering.

The rest of his charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing, which is expected on April 17. Neo remains out on a bail of S$50,000.

Court documents stated that Neo was responsible for procuring supplies such as raw materials, steel structures, pipes and pipe fittings, fabrication items and yard equipment for Keppel Shipyard. In one year alone in 2014, he handled around 8,000 purchase orders.

Suppliers who paid Neo bribes include:

• Mr Ong Chim Sum, founding director of piping component supplier Kim Seng Huat, who gave S$56,000 on 10 occasions from 2000 to 2009

• Mr Andy Ong Tong Yang, Mr Ong’s son, who gave S$97,500 on six occasions from 2011 to 2014

• Mr Tony Ong Swee Tek, founder and managing director of piping component supplier First Hydraulic & Industrial, who gave S$30,000 on 29 occasions between 2007 and 2014

• Ms Juliana Lee May Ling, founder of copper-nickel fitting supplier Athical Engineering, who gave S$27,600 on 10 occasions between 2008 and 2014

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Eugene Sng noted that in 2000, it was Mr Ong of Kim Seng Huat who first approached Neo, asking for his help to expand his firm’s business with Keppel Shipyard.

Mr Ong promised him a share of the company’s profits from sales to Keppel.

Neo then came up with the idea that he would tell Mr Ong the lowest quote, so that his company could submit an even lower quote to secure the order.

Ten years later, Mr Ong introduced his son, who continued the arrangement. The younger Mr Ong later roped in a sales manager who would call twice a week on average to ask him for the lowest quotes.

Mr Ong of First Hydraulic also offered a bribe for the lowest quotes, and got a sales executive to call Neo two to three times a month to ask for such information.

With Ms Lee, Neo agreed to reveal the lowest bids after she offered “ang pows”.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) probed Neo in 2014 as large deposits were made into a joint POSB savings account under his and his wife's name that could not be traced to their salaries.

Later, CPIB seized two of his bank accounts which had a balance of about S$150,500, along with 11 insurance policies with a total cash value of about S$730,200.