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SINGAPORE – A former deputy director of projects was jailed for 15 weeks and fined $ 6,000 on Monday (December 21) for his role in a corruption case over construction site inspections of the Customs Operations Command Complex (COCC) .
Chinese national Guo Jiaxun, 34, who worked for construction company Newcon Builders from 2015 to 2018, pleaded guilty to three counts each of corruption and account falsification.
He was the second person linked to the case that was processed in court.
In October, Lee Mun Cheng, 53, was jailed for 18 weeks and fined $ 7,000 after taking bribes in exchange for leniency in COCC site inspections.
The Singaporean, who was then working as a resident technical officer for CPG Consultants who inspects mechanical construction work at the site, was also ordered to pay a fine of $ 5,319.78, which was the total amount of bribes he accepted.
The court heard that Guo was the initiator of the deal before it was proposed to Lee. The cases involving two other men, Indian national Rajendran Thiagarajan, 33, and Singaporean Lin Haifeng, 45, are still pending.
On Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Gwee said that on September 23, 2016, Newcon was awarded a contract to be the prime construction contractor for the COCC project from Singapore Customs.
Around February 2017, CPG sent Lee to work on the project on Bulim Drive in Jurong West. He was responsible for ensuring that construction work was carried out in accordance with contractual requirements.
His working hours were from 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. on weekdays and from 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. on Saturdays. The court heard that Lee could claim CPG overtime pay only if he was physically present at the scene to conduct the inspection beyond his normal working hours.
DPP Gwee said that sometime in August 2017, Guo discovered that Lee was too strict in his inspections and this caused delays in the project. Then, Guo discussed the matter with Lin.
The DPP added, “Guo suggested to Lin that he plan more overtime (overtime) for Lee, which would result in more money for Lee. This was intended to be a bonus for Lee, to induce Lee to be more lenient with his Newcon labor inspections instead. “
DPP Gwee also said that Guo suggested that Lee be allowed to claim overtime even when Lee did not personally conduct the inspections.
Lin agreed with Guo, as they wanted the COCC project to progress smoothly, the court heard.
Lee also agreed to be part of the plan when approached, and then showed leniency in allowing the inspections to “pass” without him physically inspecting the Newcon works. It also spent less time conducting such inspections.
Court documents did not indicate how the crimes came to light, but the four men were charged in court in July.
For each charge of corruption, an offender can be jailed for up to seven years and fined up to $ 100,000.
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