Retired JTC exec jailed for taking bribes

Retired JTC exec jailed for taking bribes

A retired Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) executive was on Wednesday jailed for eight months and penalised $25,000 for accepting $31,500 in bribes from a manager of three foreign worker dormitories.

In return, 63-year-old Marzuki Ahmad, then an assistant property executive, promised to "take care" of Allen Chew Wee Kiang.

Both men understood this to mean that Marzuki would help out if any infringements were discovered at the dormitories in Fan Yoong Road in Jurong.

Marzuki first received $1,500 in July 2007. In January 2008, he was given $20,000. Three months later, he asked for $5,000 but accepted Chew's suggestion that he be paid $1,000 every month from May onwards. This continued till February 2009.

The court was not told why the corrupt arrangement came to an end. The penalty of $25,000 for Marzuki was the amount of bribes he had accepted in the six charges he pleaded guilty to. Seven other charges were taken into consideration by District Judge Lim Tse Haw.

Pleading for a light sentence, defence counsel Nirmal Singh said his client committed the crimes because he was in financial hardship.

The father of three could have been fined up to $100,000 and jailed for up to five years. Chew, 40, was jailed a year in January last year for bribing Marzuki. He was sentenced to another two years in prison for housebreaking offences.


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