The High Court has dismissed an appeal made by a Singaporean man against his sentence for a corruption offence.

Robert Tan Giok Poh, 62, applied for a reduction of his 12-month prison sentence, citing that it was too high, but ChiefJustice Dato Seri Paduka Haji Kifrawi bin Dato Paduka Haji Kifli ruled that the reasons forwarded by the appellant did not justify a reduction of the sentence.

The appellant was a manager of a local pest control company, .which received a tender from the Ministry of Health (MoH) on January 21, 2014, to eradicate termites at a local hospital for the amount of $141,610.80.

After completing the project, the company then submitted an invoice for the processing of the payment claims from the MoH.

Sometime in May 2014, the appellant found out that the payment claim for the project was being handled by an assistant project officer (Grade I) of the Estate Management and Project Development Unit at the MoH.

Both the appellant and the officer met with each other sometime in June 2014, during which he asked for her mobile phone number in order to keep updated on the payment claims.

On June 14, 2014, at around 5.28pm, the MoH officer received a WhatsApp message from him, reading, "U please help to push for me can n me will do sme ting for yr kind assistant can."

On July 23, 2014, during a meeting with the appellant and two of his staff, the MoH officer handed him a copy of the Purchase Order for Bustermite's Project Payment Claim.

As they were about to leave, he suddenly placed a white envelope in her hand, and left before she could ask any questions.

The officer found that the envelope contained three $100 notes and five tickets to the Disney 'Aladdin on Skates' show, which was then scheduled for August 2014 at the Indoor Stadium.

The officer contacted the appellant via WhatsApp at 5.33pm, on the same day, but he refused to take back the cash and tickets.

The officer subsequently informed her superiors, who instructed to report the matter to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

On August 5, 2014, she received a message from the appellant, informing her that the Disney show had been cancelled, due to poor public response.

When he sent his staff to retrieve the tickets, she attempted to hand back the $300 to him, but he refused.

During investigations by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the appellant admitted to passing the inducements of cash and tickets to the officer, and that his company had received payment of $134,530.26 from the MoH for work based on the project.

Tan was represented by Mohammad Rozaiman bin Dato Seri Laila Jasa Abdul Rahman, of Rozaiman Abdul Rahman Advocates and Solicitors.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ng appeared on behalf of the Public Prosecutor, as a respondent in the appeal.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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