Ex-RSAF engineer’s friend and accomplice convicted for cheating Govt of over S$632K

SINGAPORE – A friend of a former Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) engineer, with whom he was in cahoots with, has been convicted of cheating the Government of over S$632,000 worth of contracts.

On Monday (Aug 13), Jeevan Arumugam, 47, admitted to five counts of cheating. Another 62 charges will be taken into account for sentencing.

The court heard that Jeevan’s secondary schoolmate, Rajkumar Padmanathan, was the mastermind behind the scheme and had approached Jeevan in late 2010, suggesting they register a company together. The company was then used to bid for RSAF maintenance and repair works.

On Jan 22, 2011, Eagle Flight Aviation Services was incorporated, with Jeevan registered as the sole director and shareholder of the company.

Rajkumar assisted him on technical matters, the court was told.

At the time, Rajkumar was the Bay-In-Charge at Fire Control Flight at Tengah Air Base. Part of his job involved raising repair and maintenance work requests, as well as recommending from contractors based on their quotation submissions.

“(Rajkumar) used his knowledge of the RSAF’s tender process and familiarity with the works and prices to assist (Jeevan). He also gave (Jeevan) contacts of suppliers and helped in preparing... quotations,” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Magdalene Huang said.

Rajkumar would also recommend Eagle Flight Aviation Services to be awarded the works it tendered for. As such, the RSAF awarded the company 67 jobs, amounting to more than S$632,000 in total.

Once payment was disbursed, Jeevan would withdraw the money, and passed an unspecified portion to Rajkumar.

DPP Huang told the court that no restitution has been made to the Ministry of Defence for the money paid out.

Calling for a jail sentence of at least 15 months, the prosecutor said Jeevan’s actions were “corrupt in nature”, and that he was “motivated by personal gain”.

For his part, Rajkumar was convicted last month of cheating the Government of more than S$1.8 million through various scams. He was sentenced to two years, two-and-a-half months’ jail after he admitted to 19 cheating charges, eight charges under the Official Secrets Act, and another corruption charge.

Jeevan returns to court on Sept 17 for sentencing.