Police NSF convicted of corruption after asking social escort for sex in return for not reporting her

SINGAPORE — A full-time national serviceman (NSF) with the Singapore Police Force has been convicted of corruption after he tried to obtain sexual services from a social escort in exchange for not taking enforcement action against her. 

Fahd Siddiqui, 20, pleaded guilty to one corruption charge on Tuesday (April 4), while another similar charge will be taken into consideration for his sentencing scheduled for May 16. 

Fahd committed the offence on Nov 1, 2022, at Robertson Quay Hotel while he was off-duty. 

He also committed the same offence with two social escorts three days later on Nov 4 at Hotel Grand Pacific. This is the charge that is being taken into consideration for sentencing.

WHAT HAPPENED

On Nov 1, 2022, Fahd contacted a number listed on classifieds site Locanto to enquire about the sexual services of a social escort. 

He was told that the social escort was residing at the Robertson Quay Hotel and the price for her services was S$400. 

Fahd agreed to pay for the service and said that he would reach the hotel at around 9pm that day. 

When he met the social escort, he said that she was not the person he saw on the advertisement and that he was not interested in proceeding to pay for her services. He then left the room.

A while later, he returned to the room after the social escort's agent told him via WhatsApp that the price of the sexual services could be lowered.

When he returned to the hotel room, he showed the woman his warrant card and identified himself as a police officer, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kelvin Chong told the court. 

He said that he would report her to the police unless they could reach a form of “arrangement”, by which he meant that if she provided him with free sexual services, he would not report her to the police, Mr Chong said.

The social escort understood Fahd's statement the same way, but did not agree to his suggestion and started crying. 

She said that she did not want any trouble and had only just arrived in Singapore. Court documents did not state where the woman came from.

Feeling afraid, she called her agent. While she was on the phone, Fahd left the room without obtaining any sexual services from her.

On Nov 6, 2022, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau received information on the incident. 

Mr Chong and DPP Leong Kit Yu sought reformative training for Fahd.

They said that probation would not be suitable due to the fact that he had committed the offence twice and caused trauma to the social escort.

Reformative training is a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes. 

Defence counsel Umar Abdullah of IRB Law LLP asked for a conditional discharge and probation, seeing that Fahd was a first-time offender.

He also said that Fahd committed the offence as a result of the negative influence of his National Service peers. 

“He (Fahd) believed their stories and wanted to see if they were true. Having lived for more than 16 years abroad, Fahd’s fellow NSF peers were the only close friends he had… which led him to committing the offence,” said Mr Umar.

No further details on where and why Fahd lived abroad were given.

Mr Umar added that Fahd has good prospects for rehabilitation and reform in view of his regular volunteering activities at the local mosque and a charity which provides meals for the needy.

However, District Judge Kessler Soh said that he was not persuaded by the defence’s sentencing submission due to the seriousness of the offence of abuse of power which “must not be downplayed”, and the impact of traumatising the social escort.

He called for reports on the suitability of both probation and reformative training for Fahd, before he passes sentence on May 16.

The judge also directed that Fahd be remanded at the rehabilitation training centre for one week, starting from Tuesday, after which he will be offered bail again. 

Any person convicted of an offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act can be jailed for up to five years or fined up to S$100,000 or both.