SINGAPORE – The owner of a company that provides bus transportation services was sentenced to 13 weeks’ jail over his role in a ruse that allowed one of his vehicles to go over the prescribed speed limit of 60kmh, potentially affecting road safety.

Sundram Retnam, 51, who owns SV Bus Transportation Services and usually drove the affected bus at speeds of between 70kmh and 75kmh, was also fined $500 after he failed to ensure its speed limiter was properly calibrated to prevent the vehicle from speeding.

On March 25, he pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating and also admitted to an offence under the Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Speed Limiters) Rules.

Sundram was the second person involved in the case to be dealt with in court.

Mechanic Tee Wei Chye, 45, who had activated the speed limiter on the bus before its inspections and disabled it after the tests were completed, was sentenced to 21 weeks’ jail on March 22 after he pleaded guilty to three cheating charges.

The case involving a third man, Teoh Sio Meng, 51, who was the director and owner of T&L Transit, and a director at RS3 Transport at the time of the offences, is pending.

All three Singaporean men were charged in court in December 2022.

The prosecution said that it is mandatory for speed limiters to be installed in vehicles such as Sundram’s bus to prevent them from going beyond 60kmh.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Eric Hu and Darren Sim added: “The speed limiter regime aims to improve road safety and driving behaviour, and complements other measures intended to reduce fatalities and injuries among road users.”

In earlier proceedings, the DPPs told the court that, in 2015, Tee started working for Leng Chong Engineering and assisted in the operations of Leng Chong Motor.

These firms provided vehicle inspection services, but he had acted in his own capacity when he committed the offences.

The prosecution added that Teoh introduced Sundram to Tee some time before June 2017.

According to court documents, Teoh told Sundram that Tee was able to ensure that his vehicles passed inspections, even if they were not compliant with the Land Transport Authority’s requirements.

Sundram later engaged Tee’s services to ensure his 39-seater bus would pass a police speed limiter test.

The prosecution said the three men engaged in a conspiracy to dupe vehicle inspection company Vicom into believing that a working speed limiter was installed on the bus and would be left on the vehicle to comply with the law.

Tee temporarily enabled the speed limiter on the bus before handing the vehicle over to a Vicom vehicle inspector on June 28, 2017.

The unsuspecting inspector found the speed limiter was working and the bus passed the police speed limiter test. The result was then transmitted to the Traffic Police.

Tee disabled the speed limiter afterwards and returned the vehicle to Sundram.

Tee committed a similar offence involving the same bus, which was handed over to the same Vicom inspector on Jan 13, 2018.

An unnamed whistle-blower alerted the authorities, and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau then looked into the matter.

On March 25, Sundram’s bail was set at $5,000. He is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on April 1 to begin serving his sentence.