Jail for ex-employee of agency under MOH who corruptly obtained $18k trip from 2 men

An engineer at an agency under the Ministry of Health (MOH) corruptly obtained a Paris trip worth more than $18,000 from two senior executives of different telecommunications companies in or around March 2022.

Ng Kah Siang was then working for Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) – a wholly owned subsidiary of MOH Holdings. He is no longer working for the agency, now known as Synapxe.

He committed the offence in exchange for advancing the business interests of the men’s firms with IHiS.

On July 31, Ng, 37, who is also known as Ronnie, was sentenced to five months and two weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining a bribe and two counts of attempting to do so.

He has since voluntarily surrendered more than $18,000 to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Court documents stated that he had obtained the bribe from Chiang Chee Seng, 50, then a senior sales director at Nera Telecommunications, and Peng Ming, 39, then an account director at Huawei International.

Chiang was sentenced to 11 weeks’ jail on July 21 after he pleaded guilty to a graft charge. Peng’s case is pending. All three men are Singaporeans.

Deputy public prosecutors Eugene Phua and Andre Ong told the court that while working for IHiS, Ng was in charge of various contracts that it signed with vendors, which would provide information technology products and services to all public healthcare institutions in Singapore.  

In or around November 2021, he was assigned to be the IHiS project manager in charge of the renewal of a master contract linked to a multi-year term deal, which would allow public healthcare institutions to purchase IT equipment and solutions from the approved vendors.

The DPPs told the court that the average annual procurement from two earlier contracts was valued at around $22 million in 2020 and 2021.

In November 2021, Peng found out that IHiS was going to renew a contract linked to a term deal in early 2022 via an open tender.

Ng then tried to obtain a bribe of $20,000 from Peng.

Peng later offered Ng a visit to Huawei’s lab in Singapore to better understand the company’s capabilities.

However, Ng did not accept Peng’s offer as he found Huawei’s lab in Changi to be “too far” from his office in Serangoon North.

The prosecutors added: “There was nothing to entice (Ronnie) to travel the distance... In response to Ronnie’s previous attempt to obtain gratification of $20,000... Peng offered to organise a trip for Ronnie to a country where Huawei had presence.

“This discussion between Peng and Ronnie then evolved to a sponsored overseas trip in Europe for Ronnie and his wife.”

Initially, Ng had asked to go to Rome, but later changed his mind and opted for Paris. Peng then agreed to accommodate his request, the court heard.

At around this time, Peng introduced Ng to Chiang.

Peng also told Ng that Huawei had a good working relationship with Nera.

Court documents stated that Peng then told Ng that Chiang would join them for the trip, and that Chiang would also help to plan it.

This included covering the expenses for flights, accommodation and food for Ng and his wife.

Ng understood that the Paris trip was to induce him to help Huawei and Nera win the IHiS term deal.

The DPPs said that Peng and Chiang also stood to gain personally as part of their remuneration packages in their respective companies was based on the value of the business that they brought in.

In or around March 2022, Ng tried to obtain from Chiang gratification involving 1 per cent of Nera’s sales revenue linked to the term deal.

The Paris trip in March that year involved nine people, including the three men and their loved ones.

In earlier proceedings, the prosecutors said: “Two months after the Paris trip and just before the tender specifications for the term deal were due to be published, Chiang and Peng received confidential tender documents on the morning of May 10, 2022, which they knew would stand them in a better stead to win the term deal.”

Court papers did not disclose how the offences came to light but the DPPs had earlier said that the offenders “were stopped in their tracks” when the CPIB arrested all three men the next day on May 11.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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