Construction boss jailed for bribes to Singapore Zoo staff

At the time of the offences, the Singapore Zoological Gardens was a subsidiary of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), now known as the Mandai Wildlife Group.

The Singapore Zoological Gardens is now known as the Singapore Zoo.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Hairul Hakkim told the court Too was a foreman of a company called Shin Yong Construction (SYC), which had contracts with WRS.

He had joined it in 1990 before leaving in mid-2015.

Meanwhile, Thiam Lee was SYC’s subcontractor between 2008 and 2014.

Lim was still a subcontractor of SYC in January 2024 when Too told him if he wanted to get jobs directly from WRS, he had to give Chong “commission” of up to 20 per cent of Lim’s profit.

Lim also had to give “referral fees” to Too for every job from WRS that was awarded directly to Thiam Lee. Lim then agreed with the plan, the court heard.

Following this arrangement, WRS began awarding jobs directly to Thiam Lee as its main contractor.

Lim then periodically delivered envelopes to Too containing both the commissions for Chong and referral fees for Too.

The purpose of such commissions to Chong was for WRS to award more jobs to Thiam Lee instead of to other contractors.

The DPP said Lim would only give commissions to Chong and referral fees to Too if Thiam Lee’s net profit exceeded $20,000.

Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light, but all three men were later charged in 2021.

On Aug 5, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence Lim to up to a year, three months and six weeks’ jail, stressing he was motivated by greed. He added: “WRS suffered loss as it was unable to ensure that the best contractors were engaged at a fair price, since the awarding of contracts became based on the corrupt arrangement, rather than merit.”

Lim’s bail has been set at $75,000, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Aug 19.