Construction site manager jailed for bribing pest control workers
A construction site manager was jailed for six weeks yesterday for bribing two pest control workers to alert him about mosquito breeding inspections.
Indian national Muthukaruppan Periyasamy, 52, faced five counts of corruptly giving $1,600 in bribes to Tung Chee Keong and Chandran Jeganathan while working as a site manager for Fenzhii Engineering Services and Ramo Industries.
Tung, 48, and Chandran, 30, were former employees of pest control company Killem Pest, which was contracted by the National Environment Agency to conduct vector control.
REWARD
They received the bribes as reward for alerting Muthukaruppan to upcoming mosquito breeding inspections at his construction site.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement yesterday that investigations showed Muthukaruppan had offered to pay Tung and Chandran $400 a month.
He paid them the $400 on four occasions from May to August last year after Chandran told him about impending inspections.
They later split the money, with Tung receiving $1,000 and Chandran $600.
They were jailed on March 18 for accepting gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Tung, a Singaporean, was sentenced to jail for 11 weeks and five days. Chandran, an Indian national, was jailed for six weeks and three days.
Noting that Singapore has a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption, CPIB warned that it is a serious offence to give or accept bribes from another individual or entity.
"Corrupt acts which compromise mosquito breeding controls can pose a serious danger to public health safety and should be dealt with resolutely," CPIB added.
Anyone convicted of a corruption offence can be jailed up to five years, fined up to $100,000 or both.
Anyone with corruption complaints or reports can contact CPIB, with the option of remaining anonymous, by:
- Visiting or writing to the CPIB Headquarters at 2 Lengkok Bahru or the Corruption Reporting & Heritage Centre at 247 Whitley Road;
- Calling the duty officer at 1800-376-0000;
- Making a complaint online at www.cpib.gov.sg/e-complaint or e-mailing report@cpib.gov.sg.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
