SINGAPORE — A former Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) Deputy Director was sentenced to six weeks’ jail by a district court yesterday for soliciting a bribe from a company in return for a tender for a construction project.

Peh Chew Seng, 49, who had claimed trial, is appealing against both his conviction and the sentence. He is out on S$15,000 bail.

The court had earlier heard that Peh was tasked to oversee a project to erect a four-storey temporary annex office building shortly after he joined the hospital as its Deputy Director of Projects and Development in December 2008.

He then contacted a friend, who was at the parent firm of PBT Engineering, to ask if he was interested in tendering for the project.

PBT Engineering later put in a bid for the project. The tender closed in February 2009.

The court heard evidence that the precise nature of what Peh expected was not discussed and no money was exchanged.

His offence came to light after he instructed a consultant to “find some reasons” to disqualify the lowest tenderer for the bid. He also mentioned value-engineering suggestions that PBT Engineering had proposed.

This raised alarm bells for the consultant, who felt Peh’s instructions were inappropriate. The consultant sent an email to TTSH’s Manager of Projects and Development to clarify if the instructions were supported by the hospital.

In response to media queries, TTSH said Peh was at that time a new staff member who was on probation and inappropriate behaviour on his part had been noted in his management of one of the hospital’s building projects. It emphasised that no monetary exchange had taken place.

TTSH had filed a report of the incident with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) “in the spirit of transparency and accountability”. After reviewing Peh’s performance, a mutual decision was reached to end his contract in Feb 27, 2009.

A hospital spokesman said: “As a hospital and public institution, we place importance in having a robust and transparent system of checks and (an) open culture amongst our staff ... Through our people and systems of checks, we can better ensure the integrity of our processes and management of our projects.”