Former CapitaLand senior employees allegedly took bribes in India, according to civil suit: Bloomberg

A number of former senior employees from Singapore real estate giant CapitaLand have been implicated in a lawsuit.

They had allegedly taken bribes from a contractor of a project in India, Bloomberg reported.

The civil lawsuit was filed in Singapore by a local construction company against a former director who oversaw its India investments.

CapitaLand is mentioned in court documents from both sides, but is not party to the lawsuit.

The staff involved are no longer with CapitaLand.

Corrupt payments

According to court documents, the CapitaLand employees stationed in India had taken "corrupt payments" from a long-time contractor of a project in Pune, western India.

CapitaLand has been aware of this issue since 2023.

Anonymous sources told Bloomberg that the project is the International Tech Park Pune, Kharadi, a 6.7-hectare IT office site developed under CapitaLand’s private fund, Ascendas India Growth Programme.

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC is a principal investor of the programme.

The business park commenced operations in 2023.

CapitaLand had contracted L&W Construction Pvt, an India-based and long-time contractor of CapitaLand's India projects, to work on the Pune Tech Park project.

The construction company is a subsidiary of a joint venture between two Singapore construction firms, Lee Kim Tah Pte and Woh Hup Holdings Pte, Bloomberg noted.

Civil lawsuit

The accusations came to light after CapitaLand, a subsidiary of state investor Temasek Holdings, was mentioned in court documents of a recent civil suit brought by Lee Kim Tah Pte against a former director, Edmund Cheah.

Cheah had reportedly overseen the construction company's India investments, and was also a director in L&W Construction.

Lee Kim Tah accused Cheah of breaking fiduciary duties by entering L&W into "numerous dubious transactions", including the corrupt payments made to the CapitaLand employees.

Lee Kim Tah is seeking to claw back over S$2.1 million that was paid to Cheah.

It is unclear how much bribes were involved.

However, Bloomberg reported that an ex-employee of CapitaLand sought additional kickbacks even after receiving payments of as much as 9 million rupees (S$133,000).

Cheah denies he was in breach of his duties and is fighting the case.

Police records in Pune show that several L&W employees were arrested in 2023 and accused of misappropriating funds.

One of those was a project director for the Kharadi tech park project.

Payments from as far back as 2019

Bloomberg reported that the unlawful payments made to the employees went as far back as 2019.

They were likely for work certifications and ensuring that bills were paid in a timely manner, sources said.

There were also allegations of an L&W executive paying bribes to a CapitaLand employee, as well as government officials, a Singapore court filing indicated.

A CapitaLand spokesperson told Mothership that the company was aware of the bribery allegations in 2023.

"Upon discovery of the incident, the company promptly investigated the matter and reported the case to the relevant police authorities at that time. The case is currently under investigation," the spokesperson said.

The statement also referred to the involved staff as "former employees", implying that they have since left CapitaLand.

"CapitaLand is fully committed to conducting business with the highest ethical standards and integrity and has a zero-tolerance policy towards unethical conduct," the spokesperson added.

Top image via CapitaLand