SINGAPORE — The company director who allegedly bribed the former general manager of Ang Mo Kio Town Council (AMKTC) was tired when he gave statements to investigators, contended his lawyer on Thursday (Sept 27).

Company director Chia Sin Lan — who suffers from high blood pressure and requires medication — was kept in an interview room overnight from Oct 4 to 5 in 2016, in between his initial and second statements, said defence lawyer Michael Loh.

Chia was not “in the best frame of mind to give proper answers” after being at the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) for more than 30 hours, and was “not in the peak of health”, said Mr Loh, who cross-examined CPIB principal special investigator Keith Peh at length.

Chia, 62, the director of 19-ANC Enterprise and 19-NS2 Enterprise, is accused of giving gratification to former AMKTC general manager Wong Chee Meng.

Wong, 58, is accused of receiving bribes of at least S$107,000 from Chia between December 2014 and September 2016. During that period, Chia’s two companies won town council tenders and contracts worth millions of dollars, including for the supply of incense burners.

On Thursday, the court heard that Mr Peh recorded Chia’s statements and allegedly told his interviewee: “If you don’t cooperate, this table (in the interview room) is your bed.”

Mr Peh denied making the statement. Asked if he agreed that Chia would be tired, Mr Peh said that he appeared to be “energetic”.

But Mr Loh claimed the investigator had “planted answers in (Chia’s) mind for his statement”.

“(Chia) didn’t want to spend another night in CPIB. He was answering your questions to make you happy,” said the lawyer.

NEW STATEMENTS CLARIFYING CHINA TRIPS

It emerged that two statements Chia gave to Mr Peh were not tendered to the court. They were clarifications on Chia’s two trips to China with Wong in 2016.

Chia’s initial statement — read in court on Wednesday by Mr Peh — was that each man had paid for his own air ticket. “For food and drinks, we would take turns to pay,” he had said.

In one of the two statements, dated Jan 16 last year, Chia said that they went to Chongqing, Longchang, and Huizhou for one of the trips.

Wong went on that trip to visit his girlfriend, who was based in Huizhou, while Chia wanted to visit his incense-burner supplier.

In Chongqing, the court was told that expenses were mostly paid by a contact in China known as David Gan. In Longchang, where Chia’s incense-burner supplier is based, expenses were covered by the supplier.

And in Huizhou, it was Wong’s girlfriend Xu Hongmei who paid for most of their expenses.

“There was no evidence that (Chia) paid for everyone for all things,” said Mr Loh.

“It seems like a tour among friends…sometimes one party pays, sometimes another party pays.”

It was Mr Gan who urged Wong to join the China trip, he added.

Another prosecution witness, Mr Ng Fook Meng, also took the stand. Mr Ng, a foreman who worked for Chia’s business associate Tay Eng Chuan, had signed up for an iPhone plan that Wong allegedly used to make calls to China.

Mr Ng told the court that he was acting on the instructions of his boss. He would pay the phone bills monthly before claiming the expenses from Mr Tay, who is a shareholder of 19-NS2.

The trial continues on Nov 7.

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