A former National Parks Board officer at the centre of the Brompton bikes controversy, Bernard Lim Yong Soon (pictured above), was convicted of lying to the auditors and fined the maximum $5,000 in June by a district court.

He was found guilty of giving false information to a public servant after a nine-day trial.

Half a year later, the High Court on Nov. 21, 2014, dismissed an appeal by prosecutors seeking a deterrent jail term of three to four months for the 43-year-old assistant director.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy had argued that a jail term was necessary as there was a strong public interest in ensuring the transparency of the process of spending public funds and given the public disquiet that arose over the propriety of the government procurement process.

But Justice Tay Yong Kwang rejected this argument and said that a huge public outcry did not justify jailing someone who did not do anything to deserve it.

Justice Tay was quoted in The Straits Times on Nov. 22, 2014, saying:

"You have to look at the facts, not how much publicity is generated," said the judge

Lim's appeal also dismissed

The judge also dismissed Lim's appeal against the conviction.

Lim's lawyer, Lawrence Ang, had argued that his client's conviction was "unsafe" due to procedural lapses in the investigations.

He argued that the auditors did not give Lim a chance to read what they recorded at the meeting, nor was he allowed to explain himself. All these were contrary to standard investigation procedure.

Ministry of National Development auditors had questioned Bernard Lim about his relationship with Bikehop director Lawrence Lim.

The NParks officer then lied that they met for the first time only in March 2012, after the tender was awarded.

The truth was that the two first met before NParks invited bids for the bikes at a night cycling event in September 2011.

But the judge said there was no reason to disturb the district court's decision.

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How Hardwarezone Forum broke the Brompton bike fiasco

Late 2011: Bernard Lim had tipped off the boss of bicycle retailer Bikehop about an upcoming NParks tender for foldable bikes.

Jan. 25, 2012: The National Parks Board (NParks) wanted to buy foldable bicycles for its officers. Only one bid was submitted by one vendor.

Jan. 30, 2012: The tender closed just six days later, which included a total of only three working days.

June 22 to 23, 2012 Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported that NParks bought 26 UK-made Brompton bikes at $2,200 each from a company called BikeHop.

June 26, 2012: Response from official distributor of Bromptons was re-posted onto Hardwarezone, said that BikeHop is not the official distributor.

June 30, 2012: Public reached its own conclusion. “Due diligence apparently was not exercised,” wrote one forum member.

July 4, 2012: Minister Khaw Boon Wan finally addressed the issue.

July 25, 2012: The purchase by the NParks is reported to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Minister Khaw Boon Wan had even initially wrote on his blog, defending the integrity of the NParks officer.

He wrote:

Based on what I had read of the NParks report, I had no reason to question the integrity of the officer(s) involved.

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