Engineer of consultancy firm jailed, made to pay penalty for receiving bribes
An engineer for a consultancy firm was on Wednesday (Feb 9) sentenced to 22 weeks in jail and a penalty of $4,500 for receiving bribes to help a contractor avoid construction delays.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said that Chuah Khai Huat, 60, had received bribes totalling $4,500 on two occasions in March and July 2017.
The Singaporean was at the time a resident engineer at CPG Consultants and was attached to a construction site for a nursing home in Taman Jurong in Yuan Ching Road.
CPG was the consultant for the project. The Ministry of Health had engaged Chiu Teng Construction as the main contractor for the project, which engaged Glory Construction to carry out structural works.
CPIB said investigations showed that Chuah had accepted the bribes from Dai Jun, a site manager with Glory Construction, as an inducement for him to not cause delays in piling works carried out at the construction site, and "to not create problems" for their works.
Chuah was responsible for inspecting the works done by the contractors. If the works were not done according to specifications, he would not sign off the inspection forms to approve the works done.
Delay in the piling works would have held up Glory Construction's start of structural works at the site.
Chuah was charged on April 12, 2018, under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Dai had been issued a stern warning.
Anyone who is convicted of corruption can be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000.
Those with information on corruption cases can contact CPIB anonymously by lodging an e-complaint here, or e-mailing report@cpib.gov.sg.
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