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One police officer, 2 ex-police among 5 charged with corruption, Official Secrets Act offences

(AFP file photo)
(AFP file photo)

Two former policemen and one who is still serving with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) were charged in the State Courts for corruption-related offences and violating the Official Secrets Act in two separate cases on Thursday (15 June). Two other men were charged in relation to the incidents.

The five accused persons, who are all Singaporean, were charged under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. They face a total of 19 charges.

The first incident, which occurred between October 2015 and January 2016, involved former SPF Station Inspector Terence Lam Guo Long, 37, and dispatch driver Lim Sua Huat, 61. While Lam was still with the SPF, he had allegedly obtained photographs of people arrested by the police in relation to a rioting incident and showed them to Lim.

In October 2015, Lam allegedly showed Lim the photographs of 13 such people on his mobile phone in a coffee shop at Veerasamy Road. For this act, Lim allegedly gave Lam a $500 bribe in December 2015 at an HDB block in Rivervale Crescent.

On 19 January 2016, Lam allegedly sent Lim another five photographs through WhatsApp and allegedly received a second bribe of $500 at Punggol Settlement. Lim also allegedly told another man by the name of Goh Lay Poh about the five photos, an act which violates the OSA.

Sometime between October and November 2015, Lim also allegedly conspired with a man named Goh Siong Kiat to offer $1,000 to Lam to be lenient to a man by the name of Pua Kok Siong, who was being investigated for rioting.

Lam was charged with two counts of unauthorised communication of photographs to Lim, two counts of corruptly receiving gratification from Lim, and one count of failing to arrest Lim for the gratification.

Lim also allegedly received a $3,000 bribe on 9 March last year from a Goh Siong Kiat. The money was said to be a reward after an investigation officer of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) showed leniency to a man by the name of Ng Thiam Teck in an ICA investigation.

Lim was charged with two counts of receiving the photographs from Lam, one count of corruptly receiving gratification, one count of abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to offer gratification, two counts of giving corrupt gratification to Lam for the photographs, and one count of unauthorised communication of the illegally-obtained information.

Businessman allegedly bribed cop to get man arrested

In an unrelated case, a businessman, Yee Kok Siong, 32, is accused of bribing former SPF Senior Staff Sergeant Tan Bee Song, 40, into helping him wrongfully arrest a man, Hoon Tian Jie, in early July last year in the Ang Mo Kio Central area. Yee allegedly offered Tan a $4,000 bribe.

Tan, in turn, is accused of offering his fellow SPF Senior Staff Sergeant, 46-year-old Shukor Warji, $2,000 in order to enlist his help in the wrongful arrest. Yee was charged with one count of corruptly offering gratification to Tan.

Tan was charged with one count of receiving unauthorised information, one count of communicating unauthorised information, one count of corruptly receiving gratification and one count of corruptly offering gratification.

Shukor also allegedly revealed restricted information about an arrest to Tan, who then passed on this information to a man by the name of Goh Siong Kiat. Shukor was charged with one count of failing to arrest Tan and another count of unauthorised communication of information to Tan. Shukor has been interdicted from service.

All five – Lim, Lam, Yee, Tan, and Shukor – will be back in court on 6 July. They are out on $15,000 bail. If convicted of corruption, offenders can be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000 for each charge. If convicted of offences under the OSA, offenders can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $2,000 for each charge.

CPIB said in a media statement, “Those who abuse their position to give favours and unauthorised information in return for gratification will face dire consequences.”