Advertisement

Repeat drink driver who offered police officer $1,000 bribe to avoid prison jailed

SINGAPORE — A motorist who did not want to go to jail due to his second drink driving offence decided to offer a $1,000 bribe to a police officer after his car dislodged a door in a carpark.

The "desperate bid" by Chong Wei Kwong to avoid arrest failed and he was arrested on 14 December 2018.

Chong was jailed for 10 weeks and fined $5,000 on Monday (6 December) on one charge of corruptly offering gratification to Staff Sergeant Low Wee Meng as a bribe so that Low would not arrest him for drink driving, and one charge under the Road Traffic Act for drink driving a second time. A second conviction for drink driving carries a mandatory jail term.

Chong had claimed trial to the charge of corruption and was found guilty. He pleaded guilty to the charge of drink driving.

One charge of driving without due care and attention was taken into consideration for his sentencing.

Chong was also disqualified from driving for five years.

Chong, 50, had five glasses of hard liquor on 14 December 2018 before he tried to drive his car out of the POMO shopping mall's multi-storey carpark at night.

While at the exit gantry of the carpark, Chong reversed his car and struck a door at the carpark, causing the door to fall off its hinges.

A security supervisor of POMO was alerted to the incident but and called the police despite Chong's pleas.

Two police officers, including Low, arrived some 10 minutes later and administered a breathalyser test on Chong a few times, as Chong refused to blow into the device properly, according to Low.

Chong became desperate to extricate himself from the situation, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Genevieve Pang. He tried to take his NRIC from the police officers because he did not want them to record his particulars and investigate him from drink driving.

He then offered Low $1,000. Low rejected the bribe and arrested Chong. The conversation was captured on Low's bodyworn camera.

Chong also admitted in his statements to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau that the sum of was meant as a bribe so that he could avoid arrest for drink driving.

An analysis conducted at Tanglin Police Division a few hours after the incident showed that Chong's alcohol level was 76 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath. This was more than twice the legal limit of 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

For his first drink driving conviction, Chong was fined $2,000 and disqualified from driving for 15 months.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore