- Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: The director of two engineering companies made Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions totalling S$4,736 to a Sats employee even though the latter was not working for his firms.
Court documents stated that Lim Ban Hock, 58, who was then the director of TK Engineering, did so to help Leong Poh Keong, also known as “Kelvin”, obtain a housing loan from HDB.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Wong said that at the time of the offences, Leong was a member of Sats’ tender evaluation committee.
The court heard that Lim had given the $4,736 as bribes to Leong to advance TK Engineering’s business interest with Sats – the main ground-handling and in-flight catering service provider at Changi Airport.
The prosecution said that in a separate incident, Lim also gave Leong a bribe of $2,000 in the form of a loan and Leong has not returned the money.
On Wednesday (Jan 8), Lim, who was also the director of a firm called Env-Pro Tech Engineering at the time of the offences, pleaded guilty to a graft charge involving $4,736.
A second graft charge linked to $2,000 and one count of cheating HDB will be considered during his sentencing in February.
In December 2022, Leong, then 37, who is no longer working as a training, quality and projects executive at Sats Maintenance Centre (SMC), was charged with multiple offences including graft involving Lim and other men.
Court documents did not disclose the outcome of Leong’s case.
Lim and Leong got to know each other around 2019 and the two Singaporean men started going out for drinks soon after.
The DPP said that during one of their drinking sessions between 2019 and 2020, Leong asked Lim for a loan of between $3,000 and $4,000, claiming that his Vietnamese girlfriend’s son had suffered a kidney failure and needed dialysis treatment.
Lim agreed and gave him $2,000 in cash, the court heard.
Some time in June 2020, Leong wanted to buy a four-room HDB flat worth around $445,000, but he could not obtain bank loans to finance the unit as his credit score was too low.
He then decided to finance the flat with a housing loan from HDB. However, he was unable to obtain his desired loan amount based on his salary with Sats, which was more than $3,000 per month
The DPP said: “Kelvin thus sought out (Lim’s) help and asked the accused to give him additional employer CPF contributions so that when HDB reviewed his housing loan application, he would be eligible for a higher...loan amount.
“After discussing, (the two men agreed that Lim) would provide the additional employer CPF contributions using his company, Env-Pro, based on a basic salary of $3,200 for a few months.”
According to court documents, Lim then made $1,184 in employer CPF contributions to Leong per month from May to August 2020. This came up to a total of $4,736.
The prosecutor said that at Leong’s request, Lim also handed the younger man documents including the corresponding Env-Pro payslips.
Some time on or around Aug 14, 2020, Leong filed a housing loan eligibility application with HDB, in which he indicated his gross monthly income as $6,925 for the period of May to July 2020.
This amount was made up of his then-Sats gross pay of $3,725 per month and the $3,200 per month gross pay that Env-Pro was purportedly paying him.
Leong also submitted his CPF statements, which included the “contributions” from Env-Pro.
In October 2020, HDB offered him a housing loan of $318,300, which was calculated based on his purported monthly income of $6,925.
That same month, Leong told Lim that SMC was having an open tender exercise for some repair services.
DPP Wong said that Leong proceeded to help Lim with this tender by sharing with him confidential information, including the price lists of the then-incumbent contractor.
The prosecutor added: “Kelvin was giving the accused an unfair advantage over other vendors. The accused knew Kelvin helped him to thank him for the loan and CPF contributions the accused had extended to him.”
TK Engineering later submitted a quote and clinched the job. It signed a contract with Sats in January 2021. - The Straits Times/ANN
