SINGAPORE — A former manager from the National Library Board (NLB) was jailed for four years and four months on Thursday (April 29), after pleading guilty last year to taking S$581,730 in bribes from an ex-employee. 

Prosecutors said that the total sum of gratification that Ivan Koh Siong Wee took is “an amount of bribes that is rarely seen in public sector corruption cases in Singapore”.

The 51-year-old was ordered to pay a penalty as well of S$229,000 — the amount for which he did not repay Low Pok Woen.

Koh accepted the money from Low from 2005 to 2009, in order to advance the business interests of three of Low’s digital content providers.

Low, 52, was jailed for two years on Thursday.

Both men will begin serving their sentences on May 14 and remain out on bail of S$80,000 each.

They pleaded guilty in August last year to 20 corruption charges each, with another 36 similar charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

Koh resigned from the statutory board in November 2014. He had either been involved in or supervised NLB’s procurements from Low’s firms.

Low — also known as Daniel — was Koh’s former employee at hairdressing chain Speedcuts between 2001 and 2005. Koh was the sole director then and ran the chain as a side gig.

Around 2005, NLB made a strategic move towards digitalisation and to oversee the move, Koh was appointed as a manager in the digital resources service department, now known as the digital library services department.

Koh told Low that he could explore providing digital content to NLB. 

Koh oversaw the department’s human resources, budget and administrative matters. He also supervised librarians in searching for digital resources for NLB to acquire. 

Between November 2005 and November 2009, Koh took the bribes on 51 occasions from Low. Low also kept detailed records, including spreadsheets and deposit slips of the bribes.

NLB became the biggest customer of the three companies — namely Database Resource Services, JCD Crossmedia and W3.XS — with the statutory board procuring almost S$6 million in digital resources from them. 

During this time, Koh also asked Low for money for various purposes such as personal expenses and payment of Speedcuts' business expenses.

Low set aside about 30 per cent of the profits he earned from his companies’ subscription contracts with NLB to give as bribes to Koh.

Koh gave him confidential information about the digital resources, meaning Low could selectively source the market and supply the resources to NLB when the opportunity arose.

In particular, Low could focus his attention on high-priority resources, which were those shortlisted by librarians for NLB to acquire. Low also knew which ones NLB would procure for a higher price.

Koh also advised Low on what prices to quote NLB and that he should sign off with a different name for each of his three companies to avoid suspicion.

When Koh got one of Low’s databases approved for renewal, Koh emailed him to say he got it renewed “superbly” and “with a covert plan”.

In February 2014, the then-senior assistant director of NLB filed a police report against both men. Court documents did not reveal how the offences were uncovered.

An NLB spokesperson earlier told TODAY that following the incident, NLB regularly refines and streamlines its direct contracting process.

It also enforces direct verification of sole distributorships and rigorously monitors the evaluation process for subscription renewals, “in compliance with the Government’s Instruction Manual”. 

Each charge of giving or taking bribes carries a maximum punishment of five years’ jail or a fine of S$100,000, or both.