Former ST marine exec in corruption scandal sentenced

SINGAPORE — A former Singapore Technology (ST) Marine executive, who is one of several former top executives of the company facing corruption-related charges, has been fined S$210,000 for helping falsify documents to cover up alleged corrupt payments.

This comes as two more senior executives were charged with corruption in court today (July 1), bringing to seven the total number of former top executives charged over the corruption scandal.

Patrick Lee Swee Ching, 58, who was the company’s group financial controller from 2004 to 2007, is first to be convicted and sentenced. He had been charged with 38 counts of falsification of documents on June 10, and had indicated he would plead guilty to the charges then.

The prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor G Kannan, had proceeded with seven and asked for the remaining charges to be taken into consideration, which District Judge Jasvender Kaur allowed.
Court documents showed that Lee had created false entries for petty cash claims for entertainment expenses amounting to more than S$126,000. The funds claimed were in fact meant as bribes, euphemistically referred to as “commissions”, given to staff members of ST Marine’s customers.

The claims had to be approved by former senior vice president (Tuas Yard) Mok Kim Whang — among the seven charged — who only had the authority to approve claims of up to S$5,000. Any amount more had to be submitted to the president of ST Marine for approval.

To avoid raising suspicion, bribes exceeding S$5,000 were split into a series of smaller petty cash claim amounts, which were submitted without any receipts or invoices.

Delivering the sentence, DJ Jasvender Kaur said ordinarily she would have imposed a custodial sentence. But the strong mitigating factors “tipped the balance in favour of a hefty fine”.

Both prosecution and defence counsels had noted Lee’s remorse and cooperativeness in assisting with investigations. Lee, they said, was not facing a corruption charge — unlike that of the other executives involved — but one of falsifying documents.

The prosecution noted that Lee knew that the claims were not for “entertainment purposes, but for making ‘commission’ payments”, and Lee was in a position of “considerable responsibility as a gatekeeper of ST Marine’s financial records”.

However, Lee was also willing “to give truthful evidence against his co-conspirators, should he be called upon to give testimony”. He also pleaded guilty early, said the prosecution, which asked for a deterrent fine of between S$140,000 to S$150,000.

Defence counsel Hamidul Haq told the court that his client had “wanted to make right what he did not do right before”. The court also heard that the practice of falsifying claims had “predated his involvement”.

Nevertheless, the judge noted it was Lee’s responsibility “that illegal payments should not be disguised”.

The maximum penalty for falsification of accounts is 10 years’ jail or a fine, or both.

Earlier in the day, former chief operating officer Han Yew Kwang and former president of commercial business Tan Mong Seng were charged in court for bribery.

Han faces eight charges of engaging in a conspiracy to bribe agents of ST Marine’s customers. He had allegedly gave out more than S$700,000 in bribes from 2004 to 2009.

Tan was charged with one count of engaging in a conspiracy to pay bribes of more than S$40,000 to agents of customers, between 2004 to 2010.

They both face a maximum of five years in jail, or a fine of S$100,000, or both, for each charge.

The two men, and the remaining four accused who have yet to be dealt with, will return to court on July 9 for a pre-trial conference.