Ex-SCDF chief charged in widening sex-for-contracts scandal
[UPDATED at 3:57pm: adding details on women alleged to be involved]
Not one but three women.
Former Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) commissioner Peter Lim on Wednesday was slapped with 10 charges of corruption in a widening sex-for-contracts scandal involving three women.
The 52-year-old former government scholar is alleged to have had sex with the three women -- two vendors and a potential vendor -- on 10 different occasions between May 2010 and November 2011.
Lim, who is married, is accused of engaging in sexual trysts in exchange for favouring the women’s firms in IT-related tenders called by the SCDF.
The three women have been identified in charge sheets as Lee Wei Hoon, director of Singapore Radiation Centre Pte Ltd (SRC); Pang Chor Mui, general manager of Nimrod Engineering Pte Ltd (Nimrod); and Esther Goh Tok Mui, the director of business development of NCS Pte Ltd.
Checks with NCS by Yahoo! Singapore, however, showed that Goh is no longer working there. The Singapore website of NCS, an IT an engineering solutions provider, lists various government ministries and statutory boards as clients, including the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Lim allegedly had oral sex with Pang on 2 May 2010 at a carpark at Stadium Walk and with Lee at a carpark on 23 November 2011 at Big Splash East Coast Park.
He also allegedly had sexual intercourse with Lee in October 2011 in a hotel in Paris, France, and with Goh in seven separate occasions from April to November 2011 at a carpark near Marina Bay Golf Course, a carpark near Singapore Indoor Stadium, an apartment in Tanjong Rhu and a flat in Clementi.
Lim is now out on a $10,000 police bail, and his passport has been surrendered to the CPIB. If convicted of his charges, he could be jailed for up to five years and fined a hefty $100,000 for each.
Investigations began early this year
Lim, alongside former director of the Central Narcotics Bureau Ng Boon Gay, was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in January to assist in agency’s investigations into allegations of “serious personal misconduct”, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) then.
CPIB investigations for Lim began in early January, and in end December last year for Ng.
Both Lim and Ng were placed on leave from their duties when investigations started, but news of the investigations only emerged weeks later in January, with the MHA’s official statement released a day after Lianhe Wanbao first broke the story.
With additional reporting by Melissa Aw
