2 charged with bribing Apple exec

SINGAPORE - Two directors of a Singaporean company were charged here yesterday with bribing an American manager working for Apple, in order to gain an unfair advantage when bidding for business contracts.

They are Chua Kim Guan, managing director of Jin Li Mould Manufacturing, and Andrew Ang Kok Kiat, a sales director with the company at the time of the offence.

Between November 2006 and June 2009, they allegedly worked together to give bribes to Paul Shim Devine, a global supply manager at Apple.

For the kickbacks, Devine provided information on Apple's upcoming projects, such as product forecasts and pricing targets, so that Jin Li could secure the contracts.

Devine pleaded guilty in a United States federal court in February 2011 to wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Chua, 47, allegedly gave US$387,600 (S$483,000) to Devine over two years in Singapore, Macau, China and the US to advance Jin Li's business interests.

Ang, 38, is accused of abetting these transactions, as well as those involving two other Singaporean companies, Fastening Technology and Lateral Solutions.

He is said to have received US$184,000 from the shareholders of the two companies. This was for aiding them to secure business contracts from Apple through Devine.

Ang also allegedly got US$65,100 from Devine for his assistance in the transactions with Jin Li , Fastening Technology and Lateral Solutions.

Chua was charged with 14 counts of corruptly giving gratification to Devine under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Ang was charged with 14 counts of abetting to corruptly give gratification to Devine under the same Act. He was also charged with nine counts of corruptly receiving gratification as reward for assisting in the corrupt transactions with Devine.

The penalty for corruption is a fine of up to $100,000, a jail term of up to five years, or both.

In a statement, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said the bureau "takes a serious view of any corrupt practices" in Singapore and would not hesitate to take action against any parties involved in corrupt practices.

myp@sph.com.sg

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