SINGAPORE - Two men who hatched a plan to advance business interest of a firm in exchange for money were fined a total of $18,000 after they pleaded guilty on March 12.
Moh Jun Hao, 45, a sales consultant with Secured Retail Solutions (SRS) at the time of the offences, was fined $12,000 after pleading guilty to two graft charges. Four other charges were taken into consideration.
SRS is in the business of providing security alarm systems, as well as maintenance for these systems and equipment.
Benjamin Ting Peng Lin, 35, an IT executive with Fei Siong Food Management at the time of his offences, pleaded guilty to one graft charge and was fined $6,000. The company specialises in casual dining and quick-service restaurants.
He was also ordered to pay a penalty of $4,526.95, which is the amount of bribes he had received from SRS.
Part of Moh’s job was to find new customers and service the firm’s existing customers, while Ting’s job scope included sourcing for quotations, comparing quotations and recommending the best vendor for each IT-related job at his firm.
At the time, SRS was one of the vendors for closed circuit televisions in Fei Siong.
Moh and Ting got to know each other in 2018 at a business meeting.
About three years later, they came to an agreement that Ting would receive gratification every time SRS completed a project for Fei Siong.
This meant that whenever SRS submitted a bid for a project, Ting would inform Moh on whether SRS’s bid was too high. Moh would then adjust SRS’s price to match the competitors.
This way, Ting would help Moh to secure the projects, as he usually recommended the lowest bidder for each project.
Moh would take note of how much SRS owed Ting, who would then receive his payment in batches.
Ting received more than $4,500 in two payments on Feb 8, 2021, and Aug 30, 2021.
Court documents revealed that Tan Han Leong, 45, the owner and director of SRS, was fully aware of the arrangement between Moh and Ting.
Tan had earlier pleaded guilty to one graft charge on March 11 for his part in the case involving Moh and Ting, and was sentenced to a fine of $6,000.
In total, Tan was fined $33,000 after pleading guilty to another unrelated graft charge involving more than $11,000 on March 11.
