Forklift operator jailed 4 months for taking bribes of a few cents to $1
A forklift operator at a container yard allowed truck drivers to beat a queue to load or unload their containers in return for small sums of a few cents up to one dollar, a court heard.
For four-and-a-half years, Zhao Yucun collected about $7 to $10 daily from the corrupt practice.
By the time anti-graft officers caught him red-handed, the 43-year-old Chinese national had accepted $10,865.50 in bribes.
At the State Courts on Friday (15 February), Zhao was jailed for four months and ordered to pay a penalty of $10,863. If he fails to pay the amount, he would have to serve another two weeks in jail.
Last month, Zhao’s colleague Chen Ziliang, 47, was jailed for two months and ordered to pay a penalty of $4,870.50 for graft. Chen had also accepted bribes from truck drivers, collecting a total of $4,872.50 in small sum bribes – mostly $1 – over a two-year period.
Worked six days a week, caught red-handed
Zhao worked for Cogent Container Depot from September 2013 to March last year. The company provides container storage services.
Truck drivers of Cogent’s customers would go to a container yard where forklift operators would load or unload their containers.
Zhao worked six days a week, earning $1,430 monthly. He worked at a container yard at Jalan Terusan until November 2017, when he was deployed to another yard at Buroh Crescent. Both places are in Jurong.
In March last year, acting on a tip-off, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau raided the yard Zhao was working at. He was caught accepting two $1 coins and one 50 cents coin from three truck drivers. The anti-graft officers seized the $2.50.
Zhao said he knew there was a practice of taking cash from truck drivers in return for letting them jump the queue for the collection or return of containers.
Zhao started taking the bribes from 2 September 2013. Truck drivers would place coins at the mudguard of the forklift that he was operating on. Zhao would then pocket the cash during breaks.
For graft, Zhao could have been jailed up to five years and fined up to $100,000.
In a statement in December last year, after both Chen and Zhao were charged in court, the CPIB reiterated that Singapore adopts a “zero-tolerance approach” towards corruption.
“Employees are expected to carry out their duties fairly instead of obtaining bribes in exchange for favours. Even if the bribe amount is as low as $1, they can be taken to task. Bribes of any amount or any kind will not be tolerated,” the anti-graft agency said.
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