S'pore man, 46, tried bribing parking warden with S$10 after parking on double yellow lines, gets jail

After being issued a ticket for parking his company vehicle on double yellow lines, a man in Singapore tried to bribe the warden S$10 to avoid the fine.

Guo Chuankai, 46, offered to give the warden money to "drink tea" and after he repeatedly refused, placed a S$10 note on his motorcycle speedometer.

The warden did not take the money, and called the police instead.

Parked illegally on double yellow lines

Court documents indicated that Guo, a Chinese national, was driving his company vehicle on Apr. 4, 2023.

As he needed to borrow money from his friend, Guo parked it near a construction site and alighted from his vehicle.

A Certis Cisco Protection Services parking warden, Vikneswaran Kumaran (Viknes), was on duty when he found Guo's vehicle parked illegally on double yellow lines.

Location details were not disclosed in court documents.

Viknes took a photo of the vehicle for record purposes and printed out a parking ticket notice.

Guo returned to see Viknes trying to put the ticket on his vehicle, so he pleaded with him in Mandarin not to issue the ticket.

When Viknes told him the parking summon had already been issued, Guo asked how much the fine was, and was told it was S$70.

Tried to bribe parking warden S$10 to avoid fine

Guo then offered to give Viknes money to "drink some tea", hoping that he would not issue the ticket, but Viknes refused.

At one point, Guo told Viknes in a mix of English and Mandarin, "Money lesser can? I treat you to some tea". Viknes refused again.

After realising that Guo would not accept the ticket, Viknes decided to move off from the location, inform a duty executive about the incident and make a report.

Court documents said that before Viknes left, Guo opened his wallet, took a S$10 note out and corruptly offered gratification to Viknes to refrain from taking enforcement action against him.

When Viknes rejected this, Guo put the S$10 on the speedometer of the warden's motorcycle.

In response, Viknes called his superior for advice, and was told to call the police, which he did.

The case was referred by the police to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) the next day.

Pleaded guilty, sentenced to 3 weeks' jail

Guo pleaded guilty to a graft charge on Oct. 4, according to The Straits Times.

The prosecution asked for a jail sentence of four to six weeks, saying that he had tried to bribe Viknes thrice.

The judge sentenced Guo to three weeks' jail.

Top image from Canva / by Daniel Seow