Jail and fine for forklift operator who took bribes from truck drivers

SINGAPORE — On his first day of work as a forklift operator at a container yard, Chinese national Zhao Yucun discovered that it was customary for truck drivers to pay a token sum in return for allowing them to jump the queue to collect or return containers.

So for five years, Zhao would initiate this payment system, taking about S$7 to S$10 a day from the drivers without thinking that there was anything wrong with the practice.

On Friday (Feb 15), the 43-year-old was fined an approximation of the total sum he had received — S$10,863 — and jailed for four months for taking bribes.

Defore District Judge Ng Peng Hong meted out the sentence, Zhao said through a translator: “I didn’t know that this is an offence. I have realised my mistake.”

He also pleaded for a lighter sentence, saying that he is the sole breadwinner of his family and takes care of his elderly father, his wife and a 14-year-old son.

Zhao was working for Cogent Container Depot, a company providing container storage services in the Jurong area, and earned a monthly salary of S$1,430.

He was arrested on March 12 last year when the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) conducted a raid at Cogent’s container yard located at 1 Buroh Crescent. Zhao was caught taking two S$1 coins and a 50-cent coin from three truck drivers.

Subsequent investigations revealed that Zhao began pocketing monies from the truck drivers on Sept 2, 2013, the day he started his job at Cogent at its Jalan Terusan container yard.

He worked there till November 2017, before he was re-deployed to the yard at 1 Buroh Crescent.

The court heard that Zhao would allow truck drivers who gave a token sum to skip the queue. They would place the bribes on the mudguard of the forklift he was operating and he would collect the coins during his break.

Those who did not do so would have to wait longer as he would delay their collection or return of containers.

Besides the fact that it is wrong to take bribes, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ang Siok Chen said Zhao failed to perform what he was duty bound to do as an employee when he kept up with this corrupt practice.

Zhao was to “expeditiously load or unload” the containers onto the vehicles, but he did not, said the DPP, who asked for the accused to be jailed for four to five months.

“(He) flouted the rules set by Cogent in... talking to the truck drivers and have the truck drivers come down from their trucks,” said DPP Ang. “Notably, flouting (these) rules may also result in safety issues for Cogent (owing to the heavy traffic movement in the yard).”

For taking bribes, Zhao could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to S$100,000.