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SINGAPORE – A former assistant sales manager for Singapore Straits Wine Company was fined $ 3,000 on Monday (December 7) after pleading guilty to one count of corruption.
Malaysian Ee Chay Wea, 39, admitted to giving an $ 822 bribe to David Ang Wei Xiong, 34, in May 2018.
Ang, a Chinese national, was then a marketing communications manager at luxury watch retailer Sincere Watch. Court documents did not indicate whether he still works for the company.
Another corruption charge was taken into consideration during Ee’s sentencing by District Judge Chee Min Ping.
The court heard that Ee had met Ang while buying a watch for her boyfriend in September 2017.
After observing that Sincere Watch served sparkling wine and champagne to its customers, Ee felt that there might be opportunities to gain sales from the company.
He then handed his ID card to Ang and also sent a wine sample to Sincere Watch.
In March 2018, Ang asked Ee if his company could give him incentives to buy wine.
She referred her application to Janice Yip Kin Chee, who was the company’s chief operating officer at the time and who accepted.
Later, Ang asked Ee to increase the price of the wine sold to his company so that he could pocket the difference between the original price and the marked price.
Then he inflated the price of the wine by between 32% and 73%.
In April 2018, Ang sent Ee two wine orders for Sincere Watch.
He also handed her a food receipt for $ 822, which she passed to Yip.
Later, Ee gave Ang the same amount in May 2018.
Deputy Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said Ee was reimbursed for the bribe by paying her salary in May and June of that year.
Yip had instructed the wine company’s accounting department to reimburse Ee under the guise of a performance incentive, the DPP added.
Ang has been charged with two counts of corruption for receiving bribes. His case is expected to be heard on December 22.
On Monday, Ee’s attorney, Valliappan Subramaniam, said to mitigate that his client’s offense was a one-time incident and that she had not benefited in any way.
Ee is among several former employees of the wine company who were previously charged with corruption offenses.
They include Yip, 74; former CEO Lim Yok Lyn, 47; and former sales executive Micael Musoni, 31.
Their cases are still pending.
If convicted of corruption, a criminal can be jailed for up to five years or fined up to $ 100,000, or both, for each count.
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