Former RSAF staff, businessman charged with 352 counts of cheating
Two former Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) engineers and a business owner were charged with a total of 352 counts under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Official Secrets Act.
Former RSAF engineers Rajkumar Padmanathan and Sung Way Xiong, and sole proprietor Jeevan Arumugam, were charged in the State Courts on Friday (21 July).
Rajkumar has the highest tally of charges at 251 counts, the bulk of which relate to cheating offences between October 2010 to December 2014. These include cheating the Ministry of Defence of more than $1 million.
He is accused of cheating the government while employed as an RSAF engineer by hiding the fact that he owned and controlled a company, Goodwill Aviation System (GAS), when he recommended GAS as a contractor for RSAF repair and maintenance work. The government paid some $869,000 to GAS for their services.
Rajkumar also cheated the government by concealing the fact that a private company, Duratech Engineering, would subcontract RSAF aircraft system repair and maintenance works to GAS or Eagle Flight Aviation Services (EFAS) when he recommended Duratech as a contractor to RSAF. The government paid some $259,000 to Duratech in repair and maintenance works.
Rajkumar also allegedly cheated the government while employed as a technical officer with One Marina Property. He hid the fact that he had an interest in the business of EFAS and Global Trade Well when he recommended the firms either as contractors for RSAF facilities repair and maintenance works. As a result, the government paid $57,000 to the companies.
Rajkumar also faces 67 counts of engaging in a conspiracy with Jeevan Arumugan to cheat the government between April 2011 and June 2012, resulting in $633,000 being paid to EFAS. Jeevan, who is the sole proprietor of EFAS, similarly faces 67 charges of conspiring to cheat with Rajkumar.
Rajkumar is also accused of corruptly offering money and future employment as gratification to Sung, to induce Sung to provide him with restricted pricing information, which Sung had access to due to his job function. For his part, Sung was charged with one count of corruptly agreeing to accept the gratification from Rajkumar to provide him with the restricted information.
Rajkumar also faces 33 counts under the Official Secrets Act for receiving the restricted information from Sung between April and December 2014. Sung faces the same number of charges for communicating the confidential information to Rajkumar.
Rajkumar said in court that he intends to plead guilty to his charges and engage a lawyer. Sung said that he intends to engage a lawyer from the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, while Jeevan is represented by lawyer Sinnadurai. All three will be back in court on 14 August.
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