Ex-SCDF chief fired from public service

SINGAPORE - Former Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) commissioner Peter Lim Sin Pang has been officially dismissed from public service, said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement on Saturday.

Responding to media queries, a spokesman said the decision was taken by the Public Service Commission following the conclusion of civil service disciplinary proceedings against Lim.

Lim was convicted in May of corruptly obtaining sex from Ms Angie Pang Chor Mui, 49. This was in exchange for furthering the business interests of her then employer, Nimrod Engineering.

He also pleaded guilty to seven more corruption charges over trysts with two other women, who were working for two vendors of SCDF.

The 53-year-old had been interdicted - which includes suspension from duty and a docking of pay - since January last year after he was arrested for graft.

Lim, who is married with a young daughter, was handed a jail term of six months after the high-profile sex-for-contracts trial. During his sentencing, District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim said that the court wanted to send a clear message that corruption would not be tolerated.

Lim filed an appeal against his sentence but dropped it in July. He is currently serving his time in jail.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said later that same month that graft cases against senior civil servants like Lim "put the integrity of the Public Service in the spotlight".

Speaking at a scholarship event then, Mr Teo added that individual failings, which are dealt with "without fear or favour", should not erode confidence in Singapore's public institutions and the people who serve in them.

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