Ex-Esplanade employee & 3 company directors charged for corruption involving over S$96,000

A former employee of the Arts House Limited and The Esplanade Co allegedly received bribes from directors of various company for turning a blind eye to faults and advancing their business interests.

The former employee, three company directors and two companies were charged in court for corruption on Oct. 31.

JYD Design

The Esplanade Co operates Esplanade, while Arts House Limited (AHL) operates six art venues including Victoria Theatre and the Old Parliament.

According to a Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) press release, an ex-employee of the two companies, Saburulla s/o Adbul Gani, 59, allegedly obtained a S$1,000 bribe from one Yeoh Wee Yeong, 63, in 2005.

Yeoh, who was a director at JYD Design, used the bribe to induce Saburulla to not find faults with works done by JYD.

Between January 2011 and September 2022, over multiple occasions, Saburulla allegedly obtained bribes totalling about $52,800 from Yeoh to advance the business interests in relation to various renovation and installation contracts between JYD and Esplanade and AHL.

Between 2009 and 2015, over multiple occasions, Saburulla allegedly conspired with Yeoh and five other individuals to mislead Esplanade into believing that JYD had provided the lowest quotations, which resulted in the firm being awarded various renovation and building contracts.

This came in the form of multiple quotations containing false statements by other companies which had no genuine intention to bid for contracts.

Aceproject

Apart from Yeoh and JYD, Saburulla also engaged in alleged corrupt practices with Chew Kim Kee, 52 and Eng Kim Hai, 63.

Chew and Eng were the Directors of Aceproject Construction.

Between 2018 and 2022, over separate occasions, Saburulla allegedly received S$42,800 from Che wand Eng to advance their business interests with AHL.

In the same period, he also conspired with Chew and two other individuals to mislead AHL into believing that Aceproject had provided the lowest construction and thus, win various building contracts.

Between 2019 and 2022, over multiple occasions, Saburulla allegedly misled Arts House into believing that Aceproject and/or JYD had provided the lowest quotations, which led to the companies being awarded various contracts.

Similarly, multiple quotations containing false statements by other companies were used.

Ex-employee faced 44 charges

For these alleged offences, Saburulla faced 44 charges in total under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Chew faced 14 charges, Yeoh faced 23 and Eng faced two.

The companies involved, JYD Design and Aceproject Construction, were also slapped with 11 and seven corruption charges respectively.

Any person convicted of a corruption offence under Section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act can be fined up to S$100,000, sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both, CPIB wrote.

The maximum imprisonment term for each offence of corruption can be increased to seven years if it is in relation to a matter or contract with the Government or public body, or a subcontract to execute work comprised in such contract.

"Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption," CPIB emphasised.

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