Senior assistant director at MOE allegedly injured man while drink driving
A senior assistant director at the Ministry of Education (MOE) was allegedly drink driving in 2022 when he went against the flow of traffic and hit a car, injuring the other driver.
Edmund Lam Kiat Choong, 43, who is from the security and readiness section of the ministry, is now accused of one count each of drink driving and dangerous driving.
On Friday, MOE told The Straits Times it would follow up with disciplinary proceedings after his court case concludes.
A spokesman for the ministry added: “(MOE) takes a serious view of staff misconduct and will take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to our standards of conduct and discipline.”
Lam, who is a section head, allegedly drank alcohol before he went behind the wheel of a car last December.
He was said to be drink driving in Bras Basah Road shortly before 2am on Dec 8, 2022.
Lam is accused of driving against the flow of traffic there for nearly 320m and of getting his vehicle into a head-on collision with another car.
The other driver, a 54-year-old man, was hurt following the accident but court documents did not disclose details about his condition at the time.
Lam was later found to have at least 77 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, more than double the prescribed limit of 35mcg.
He is expected to plead guilty on Aug 11.
Traffic Police figures showed that there were 175 drink-driving accidents in 2022, the highest since 2018 when 178 such cases were recorded.
There were 155 drink-driving accidents in 2021.
The number of people arrested for drink driving also increased from 1,453 in 2021 to 1,685 in 2022.
If convicted of drink driving, a first-time offender can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $10,000.
A repeat offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $20,000.
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