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SINGAPORE: A senior project manager at a company that managed Holland-Bukit Panjang, Sembawang and Sengkang town councils was charged on Friday (Aug 21) with taking bribes to advance the interests of three contractors.<\/p>\n
Phua Gim Chuan, 63, worked for EM Services, the managing agent for the three town councils. He faces six charges related to the alleged corruption and money laundering offences.<\/p>\n
According to its website, EM Services currently serves 10 of Singapore\u2019s 19 town councils. Checks by CNA showed that it continues to manage Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council and Sembawang Town Council.<\/p>\n
From March 2020 to January 2023, Phua allegedly obtained bribes from three company directors to advance their business interests in contract proposals involving the respective town councils.<\/p>\n
The alleged bribes totalled S$220,000 (US$173,160), court documents showed. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Phua is accused of concealing S$90,000 of the cash he allegedly received by instructing his wife to deposit it in her personal bank account in December 2022. He is also accused of using about S$105,000 of the funds to pay for a Mercedes-Benz car in January 2023.<\/p>\n
The three company directors \u2013 Yap Hwee Kang, Lim Kian Koon and Ng Lee Peng \u2013 also face corruption charges for allegedly giving Phua bribes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yap, 66, and Lim, 64, face one charge each, while Ng, 62, faces two charges.<\/p>\n
Yap, who was then a director at Paragon Engineering, is accused of giving Phua S$30,000 in bribes in March 2020 in relation to a proposal for a contract with Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council.<\/p>\n
Between September and October 2022, Ng allegedly gave Phua S$40,000 to advance MCE Contract Services\u2019 interests in a proposal for a contract with Sembawang Town Council.<\/p>\n
Ng, who was also a director at J&M Construction, allegedly gave Phua another S$50,000 in January 2023 in connection with a contract proposal involving Sengkang Town Council.<\/p>\n
Lim, who was a director at Seah & Lim Construction, is accused of giving Phua S$100,000 in bribes in December 2022, to advance the company\u2019s interests in a proposal for a contract with Sengkang Town Council.<\/p>\n
CNA has reached out to Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council, Sembawang Town Council and Sengkang Town Council for comment.<\/p>\n
The men are due for their next hearing on Sep 18.<\/p>\n
Individuals convicted of such offences can be fined up to S$100,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.<\/p>\n
The maximum jail term for each corruption offence can be increased to seven years if the charge is related to a matter, contract or sub-contract with the government or a public body, said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in a media release on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SINGAPORE: A senior project manager at a company that managed Holland-Bukit Panjang, Sembawang and Sengkang town councils was charged on Friday (Aug 21) with taking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}