ST Marine graft case: 4th former excharged
PUBLISHED ONJanuary 01, 2015 10:00 PMByIan Poh
A former president of shipbuilder Singapore Technologies (ST) Marine yesterday became the fourth former executive of the firm to be charged in relation to an alleged corruption case.
See Leong Teck, 64, is said to have conspired with four others to pay bribes totalling more than $556,000 to agents of customers. They were allegedly paid in return for ship repair contracts.
See faces seven charges in all under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The alleged conspiracies took place between 2004 and 2010, while the bribes were allegedly paid between May 2004 and December 2007, according to court papers.
Three other former executives were accused earlier this month of various offences relating to the case. Two of them were named in See's corruption charges yesterday, having allegedly conspired with him.
Former senior vice-president (Tuas Yard) Mok Kim Whang, 64, faces one count involving almost $44,000.
Former group financial controller and senior vice-president (finance) Ong Teck Liam, 58, is named in two of See's charges, involving almost $248,000.
Ong herself faces 118 counts - under the Penal Code - of making false petty cash claims, amounting to more than $520,000, in purported entertainment expenses.
See's third alleged co-conspirator, appearing in six charges, is the late former senior vice-president Teh Yew Shyan.
Meanwhile, a former chief financial officer of group subsidiary Vision Technologies Systems, Mr Patrick Lee Swee Ching, is named in five counts involving more than $308,000.
Mr Lee has not been charged in court. He was previously reported to have been arrested in September 2011 by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, but was later allowed to return to work in the United States.
ST Marine, a subsidiary of ST Engineering, provides shipbuilding and repair services worldwide.
See served as its president from December 1997 to February 2008. He was succeeded by 54-year-old Chang Cheow Teck - who was among the three charged on Dec 11 this year.
Chang, who faces three counts of corruption, held the role until April 2010, and then served as president of ST Aerospace from May 2010 to June this year.
See is represented by Mr Wendell Wong of Drew and Napier. The case will be heard again on Jan 9. See is out on $150,000 bail and his passport has been impounded. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000 on each count of corruption.
pohian@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Dec 31, 2014.
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