[ad_1]
SINGAPORE: Three men were charged on Tuesday (December 29) with the crimes of cheating, forgery and corruption, with several of the charges related to an attempt to defraud IBM out of more than S $ 160,000.
The first man, Tang Li Ming Clive, 37, was a director of WCT Systems and WCT Holdings Group at the time of the crimes.
The second man, Peter Chua Hua Seng, 42, was a director of Skylight Holdings.
The third man, Joemario Lim Ruiyang, 28, was a director of Fortune Coal & Energy and Champion Corporate Consultants.
GETTING DISHONESTLY PAYMENTS FROM IBM
The men had allegedly conspired to deceive and dishonestly induce IBM Capital Singapore to pay Skylight Holdings S $ 160,500 for a server and 15 mobile phones sometime in late 2017 or early 2018, the Office of Corrupt Practices Investigation said ( CPIB).
This was done by misleading IBM into believing that WCT Holdings had made the purchase, that it did not exist.
For this, each of the men faced a charge for the crime of cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of goods.
ACCOUNT COUNTERFEIT
Chua had allegedly forged a delivery order on Skylight’s letterhead, claiming that the server and 15 mobile phones had been delivered to the WCT Holdings office.
Lim then picked up said forged delivery order from Chua and passed it to Tang for signature, acknowledging the delivery of the items, which Tang did even though there were none.
Furthermore, Chua had allegedly also prepared a forged tax invoice on Skylight’s letterhead to bill IBM for S $ 160,500 for the server and 15 mobile phones allegedly delivered to WCT Holdings.
For this, Chua faced two counts of account falsification, and Lim and Tang each faced one count of complicity.
FUNDS DISBURSEMENT
In order to legitimately disburse the funds that Skylight received from IBM to WCT Holdings, Tang allegedly prepared a forged tax invoice on WCT Holdings letterhead to falsely state that Skylight had purchased equipment from WCT Holdings.
This was supposedly done following Chua’s instructions, which Tang received through Lim.
For this, Tang faced one count of account falsification, and Chua and Lim each faced one count of complicity.
Lim had also allegedly prepared a forged tax bill on Champion Corporate Consultants letterhead to legitimize Skylight’s disbursement to Fortune Coal & Energy, of which Lim is a director.
Apparently this was also done following Chua’s instructions.
For this, Lim faced a charge for falsifying accounts, and Chua faces a charge for complicity.
Furthermore, Tang was also charged by the Singapore Police with instigating an unknown Chinese man to commit a forgery for the purpose of cheating.
TANG CORRUPTION CRIMES
Tang also faced three separate corruption charges involving three other people in three incidents dating back to 2016 and 2017.
In the first incident, sometime around November and December 2016, Tang had given a S $ 250 bonus to San José Ronnel Dela Cruz, a Wine Trade Asia project executive.
This was done as a reward for recommending the award of a contract to WCT Systems for an exhaust engine replacement at the Wine Connection restaurant on Cuppage Road.
In the second incident, sometime around April and May 2017, Tang corruptly agreed to give a S $ 1,000 bonus to Lee Soo Peng, project manager at Vivere Design Studios.
This was done as a reward for recommending the award of a contract for the installation of a fire suppression system in the Ding Xin cafeteria to City Exhaust Systems, another company of which Tang was previously a director.
In the third incident, on November 14, 2017, Tang had knowingly given false information to a senior special investigator at CPIB.
The three people related to Tang’s corruption charges were previously indicted and convicted.
Tan Yi Jing, Felicia, a 31-year-old Singaporean woman, received two counts of corruption and was fined S $ 7,500 on September 4, 2020.
In the first incident, Tan, who was a WCT Systems sales manager at the time, had goaded Tang by intentionally helping him give Dela Cruz corrupt gratification.
In the second incident, she also corruptly offered a S $ 1,000 bonus to Lee.
Dela Cruz, a 41-year-old Filipino citizen, was fined S $ 1,000 and ordered to pay a fine of S $ 250 on December 3 for a crime related to the first incident: corruptly obtaining gratification from Tan.
In connection with the second incident, Lee, 49, was sentenced to a fine of S $ 7,000 on April 2, 2020 for the crime of corruptly accepting Tan’s reward.
Tang intends to plead guilty on January 28, while Chua and Lim will return to court next month.
“Singapore takes a zero tolerance approach towards corruption and other criminal activities such as cheating and account falsification,” said CPIB.
Anyone convicted of a corruption offense can face a fine of up to S $ 100,000 or a prison term of up to 5 years, or both.
Anyone convicted of cheating or forging accounts can be jailed for up to 10 years and also fined.
