Ex-airport officer on corruption rap

SINGAPORE - A former technical officer with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) was charged yesterday with corruption and deceiving the organisations with quotations so ' that contracts would be given to a company named Fire-Mech.

Henry Goh Keng Hwee, 44, faces six charges of corruptly accepting bribes of at least $43,780 from Mr Kang Leong Chuan, a director of Fire-Mech, in return for helping the company secure multiple contracts with CAAS/CAG, and for giving Mr Kang extra time to prepare quotations for the work.

The alleged offences took place between October 2008 and early 2011.

He is also accused of 22 counts of using false quotations with the intention to deceive and mislead CAAS/CAG that Fire-Mech had provided the cheapest quotes for the work required.

As a result, CAAS/CAG awarded the contracts to Fire-Mech.

Goh's lawyer S. Balamurugan sought an adjournment to make representations.

Goh's police bail has been extended.

A pre-trial conference will be held on April 23.

If convicted, he could be fined up to $100,000 and/or jailed for up to five years on each charge.

In a statement, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said Singapore has always adopted a zero tolerance approach towards corruption, and it takes a serious view of any corrupt practices and will not hesitate to take action.

Before it was formed in June 2009 to manage Changi Airport's development and operations, CAG was part of CAAS.

This article was first published on March 12, 2015.
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