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Former Land Transport Authority (LTA) deputy group director Henry Foo Yung Thye has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years jail after being found guilty of accepting S$1.24 million in bribes, CNA reported.

The 47-year-old will serve an additional year in prison as he could not afford to pay back the remaining S$1.15 million of his ill-gotten gains, according to Today.

Foo had previously made restitution of S$83,750.

He pleaded guilty to seven charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and another 29 charges were reportedly taken into consideration for his sentencing, which included cheating his colleagues of about S$726,500, as per CNA.

How he got caught

According to court documents, Foo was initially implicated when anonymous tip-offs were sent to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in 2018 about him soliciting loans from subcontractors involved with projects under his charge.

Investigations by the CPIB found that Foo was corruptly accepting bribes in the form of loans from contractors and subcontractors to advance their business interests with LTA.

The father of two oversaw S$815 million worth of contracts that these companies had with LTA.

An evaluation by the Institute of Mental Health found Foo to have a pathological gambling disorder.

DPP: "Most significant case of public sector corruption"

During sentencing, District Judge Jennifer Marie said Foo had persistently asked contractors and sub-contractors for loans, and the sum involved as stated in the charges are more than S$100,000 for each offence, according to The Straits Times (ST).

The Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) previously described the case as “the most significant case of public sector corruption” in recent times due to the amount of money involved and the number of givers and vendor companies implicated.

For corruption, Foo could have been fined up to S$100,000 and jailed for up to five years for each offence.

If the offence is related to a matter or contract with the government or a public body, the maximum jail term for each offence can be increased to seven years.

Six individuals and one company implicated too

In relation to Foo's offences, six other individuals and one company have also been charged, including a project director and a project manager at Daewoo Engineering and Construction, reported CNA.

Both were reportedly sentenced to eight months' jail for conspiring to bribe Foo with S$30,000.

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Top image via LTA/ YouTube @tingeyinquirylawfirm/ Unsplash