Jail for man who offered officers S$12 bribe after being caught smoking at void deck

SINGAPORE — He not only pushed an auxiliary police officer who detained him for smoking at a void deck, but offered a S$12 bribe to the officer and her colleague.

On Wednesday (July 22), Liu Huibin — a 44-year-old Chinese national — was sentenced to two months and two weeks’ jail after being convicted of offences under the Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.

In a media statement, the police and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said that on Jan 27, two Certis Cisco auxiliary police officers saw Liu smoking at the void deck of a housing block along Sumang Link in Punggol.

One of the officers, Ms Aruna Magathevan, is an authorised auxiliary police officer of the National Environment Agency (NEA). Her colleague, Mr Mohammed Latiff Mohd Ali, is an enforcement officer attached to NEA.

The two of them approached Liu with the intention of giving him a notice to attend court, since he had committed an offence of “smoking in a specified place”. Smoking is banned along common corridors, void decks, staircases and covered walkways of public housing estates.

Liu tried to walk away from the scene, but the two officers stopped him.

He was unwilling to provide his personal particulars, so the officers called the police and asked Liu to wait for the police officers to arrive.

While waiting, Liu again tried to leave the scene and grabbed Ms Magathevan’s wrist. He then pushed her shoulder, causing a bruise on the officer’s left wrist.

Liu later offered S$12 to both officers as an inducement for them not to take enforcement action against him for the smoking offence.

Both officers rejected his offer.

Officers from the Ang Mo Kio Police Division responded to the incident and established Liu’s identity.

On July 9, he was charged with voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from doing her duty, an offence under the Penal Code. He was also charged with corruptly offering gratification to the two officers, which is punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The police and CPIB commended the two Certis Cisco officers for acting with integrity.

They said that Singapore’s authorities adopt a “strict zero-tolerance approach” towards corruption and the assault of public officers doing their duty.

“These are serious offences,” they added.

Those found guilty of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from carrying out his or her duty may be jailed up to seven years and fined or caned.

The punishment for those convicted of a corruption offence is a fine of up to S$100,000 or a jail term of up to five years, or both.