Jail, 5-year driving ban for repeat drink-driver who tried to bribe policeman with S$1,000

SINGAPORE — A 50-year-old man was jailed for 10 weeks on Monday (Dec 6) for his second drink-driving offence, as well as for trying to bribe a policeman with S$1,000 after drunkenly reversing his car into a door while exiting a shopping mall car park.

Chong Wei Kwong, a Singaporean, was also fined S$5,000 and banned from driving all classes of vehicles for five years.

He was found guilty of a corruption charge earlier this year after claiming trial to it, before pleading guilty on Monday to drink-driving.

A third charge of failing to exercise care while driving was taken into consideration for sentencing.

Principal District Judge Victor Yeo rejected his defence during the trial that the S$1,000 was meant to be given to the mall’s management for the damaged door.

Following his offence on Dec 14 in 2018, Chong had already admitted to the authorities that he wanted to bribe the police officer to evade arrest.

He was working as a principal project manager at an engineering firm at the time.

That evening, Chong was driving out of a multi-storey car park at the PoMo mall located along Selegie Road in Dhoby Ghaut. He had just drank five glasses of cognac at a KTV lounge at the nearby Parklane Shopping Mall.

Frustrated that he could not get through an exit gantry, he reversed and hit a staircase door.

After the door fell to the ground, the mall’s security supervisor turned up at the scene and Chong asked him not to call the police. However, the guard ignored his request.

Two police officers arrived about 10 minutes later and Chong failed a breathalyser test, which showed that he had 76 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath — more than twice the prescribed limit of 35 micrograms.

When Chong was told that he had failed the test, he spoke to Staff Sergeant Low Wee Meng, telling the officer that he was previously convicted for drink-driving. 

In 2001, he was fined S$2,000 and banned from driving for 15 months.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Genevieve Pang told the court that Chong was in a state of panic when he was caught, knowing he could face a jail term for drink-driving. 

He first tried to take his National Registration Identity Card back from the police, not wanting them to take down his particulars and investigate him. This was captured on the police officers’ body-worn cameras.

He then denied being the driver, telling the officers they had “no evidence”. This was before he failed the breathalyser test.

He proceeded to ask Staff Sergeant Low: “Can we compromise?”, to which the officer replied that there were cameras everywhere and he could not easily get out of it. 

Chong then repeatedly asked the officer to let him off, even asking if he could “withdraw” the case and describing his first drink-driving offence. When this did not work, he told Staff Sergeant Low: “Whatever you want, I will do for you.”

He became evasive when the officer tried to clarify what he meant. He then offered S$1,000, saying “give you lor” and “anytime draw money”, meaning he could withdraw the sum from an automated teller machine.

Staff Sergeant Low testified in court that he contacted the police operations room, saying Chong had tried to bribe him with S$1,000 and that he was going to place him under arrest.

In mitigation, Chong’s lawyer said that he has vowed not to drink-drive again after he regains his licence, and was remorseful for what he did.

For trying to bribe the officer, Chong could have been jailed up to five years or fined up to S$100,000, or both.

For his second drink-driving conviction, he could have been jailed up to two years and fined up to S$20,000.