Trio charged with cheating LTA, several offences linked to speed limiters on buses
Three men are facing charges of cheating agencies including the Land Transport Authority (LTA) after they were hauled to court on Monday.
Among other things, the trio, who were from different transportation-related firms, allegedly conspired to commit cheating offences linked to speed limiters – devices fitted to vehicles to prevent them from going over a pre-set top speed.
At the time of the alleged offences, Teoh Sio Meng, 50, was a director at T & L Transit, which provides chartered bus services, while Sundram Retnam, 50, was the sole proprietor of SV Bus Transportation Services.
The third man, Tee Wei Chye, 44, was a mechanic at vehicle inspection firm Leng Chong Engineering at the time.
On Monday, all three were charged with offences including multiple counts of cheating.
On two occasions between June 2017 and January 2018, they allegedly conspired to dupe an inspector from vehicle inspection firm Vicom into believing that a working speed limiter had been installed on a bus.
As a result, the trio are said to have induced the inspector to hand the bus a passing grade for the police speed limiter test.
Teoh is also accused of cheating the LTA on eight occasions between July 2015 and January 2018, while Sundram is said to have done so on one occasion at around the same time.
In a statement on Monday, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said: “(The pair) were alleged to have deceived the LTA into believing that there were working speed limiters installed on various buses when there were none, thereby intentionally inducing the LTA to allow licence and road tax to be renewed for those buses.
“In June 2017, on two occasions, Teoh was alleged to have instigated one Muhammad Sukri Sulaimi to deceive the LTA into believing that there were working speed limiters installed on two buses when there were none, thereby intentionally inducing the LTA to allow those buses to be used in Singapore.”
CPIB did not disclose details about Mr Sukri.
Tee is accused of adjusting the speed limiter in a bus, on or before June 2017, allowing the speed of the vehicle to exceed 60kmh.
On or around April 17, 2018, Tee also allegedly deceived the LTA into believing there was a cab partition installed in a minibus for the purpose of complying with the law when he intended to remove it after inspection.
Tee is also said to have deceived the LTA into believing that another bus did not emit smoke density more than 40 Hartridge Smoke Units (HSU), which would comply with the law.
The CPIB said he had allegedly intended to adjust the air-to-fuel ratio in the fuel pump of the bus after the inspection.
Tee’s alleged deceptions intentionally induced the LTA to allow the licences and road taxes to be renewed for both buses.
Each of the accused was offered bail of $5,000 on Monday, and their cases have been adjourned to Jan 5, 2023.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to three years and fined.
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