3 former execs of ST Marine face fraud charges

SINGAPORE - Three former high-ranking staff members of ship builder Singapore Technologies Marine (ST Marine) were charged yesterday morning with corruption and falsification of accounts.

Former president Chang Cheow Teck faces three charges of corruption involving a total of $273,778. The 54-year-old has been accused of conspiring with subordinates Teh Yew Shyan and Ong Teck Liam between 2004 and 2010.

The trio are alleged to have given bribes in return for favours such as ship repair contracts.

Ong, 58, the firm's former group financial controller and senior vice-president (finance), was charged with 118 counts of making false petty cash claims amounting to over $500,000 in entertainment expenses, when there was none. She was accused of being in conspiracies involving Chang and Teh, among others.

Separately, ST Marine's former senior vice-president (Tuas Yard) Mok Kim Whang, 64, has been accused of conspiring with others to corruptly pay $43,721 to a company in May 2004.

ST Marine, a subsidiary of engineering group Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering), is a shipyard providing ship building, conversion and repair services worldwide.

In a statement yesterday, ST Engineering said ST Marine has been cooperating fully with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau since investigations started on "certain transactions involving former and current employees" in 2011.

Said a spokesman: "ST Engineering is committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and recognises that fraud is detrimental to the reputation of the ST Engineering Group.

"ST Engineering does not condone fraud, including corruption and bribery, and is fully committed to proactively mitigating the risk of its occurrence."

The charges against the three accused are not expected to impact the earnings per share of the group for the current financial year, it said.

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