Former PUB assistant engineer jailed, fined for taking bribes

• As an assistant engineer at PUB, Jamaludin Mohamed’s role included supervising PUB contractors
• He obtained S$45,169 in bribes to facilitate and speed up the work of one contractor
• Two years later, Jamaludin asked an executive for S$500,000 in return for helping her firm win its bid for a PUB project 
• Jamaludin was jailed for nine months and 10 weeks and fined S$45,169

SINGAPORE — As an assistant engineer at national water agency PUB, he received tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from a construction firm's project manager to facilitate and speed up projects at PUB worksites.

Two years later, Jamaludin Mohamed asked an executive of an engineering firm for S$500,000 in exchange for helping the firm win a tender to replace some water mains.

Jamaludin, 58, was on Tuesday (Nov 16) jailed for nine months and 10 weeks, as well as fined S$45,169 — the amount he had illicitly received from the project manager.

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to two corruption charges and one count of falsifying accounts under the Penal Code. Another two similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Charis Low said that in November 2017, Jamaludin approached Ganisan Suppiah, who was the project manager of two construction firms, Krishco Singapore Construction and Pipe Works.

Pipe Works had been subcontracted to carry out certain works at PUB worksites.

Jamaludin asked Ganisan for “fees” in exchange for getting documents in order quickly, so that Pipe Works could start work early. He would also give Pipe Works’ workers priority to lay the pipes at the sites.

Jamaludin then set up a new company, Daeyul Services, to receive these illicit fees through false invoices billed to the two construction firms for fictitious cleaning services at the work sites.

Ganisan allegedly handed Jamaludin the payments in cash when they met at coffee shops.

Ganisan, 52, is facing one corruption charge and two counts of falsifying documents. His case is before the courts.

In the second incident, on July 25 in 2019, Jamaludin met a management executive from Ley Choon Construction and Engineering at a coffee shop in Kranji.

Jamaludin told the executive that he was able to help her secure a tender to replace the water mains for which an associated firm had submitted a bid to PUB.

He asked for “half mil”, meaning S$500,000, and told the executive that he could set up a company and bill the firm for “services”.

The executive replied that she would first have to inform her management and rejected Jamaludin’s proposal the next day.

That same month, Jamaludin also tried to get another bribe of an unspecified amount from another company, SKK Works, over the same tender.

In a statement in August, PUB said that Jamaludin was dismissed from service in January this year following internal investigations into misconduct unrelated to the corruption offences, without elaborating.

It said then: “PUB has no tolerance for malfeasance by its employees, and maintains a comprehensive system of measures internally to deter and detect such behaviour. It is our standard procedure to bring any suspicion of corrupt behaviour by staff, if surfaced, to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau immediately.”

For receiving or attempting to receive bribes, Jamaludin could have been jailed for up to five years or fined up to S$100,000, or both.

For falsifying records, Jamaludin could have been jailed for up to 10 years or fined, or both.