Jail for GM who awarded $6m contract to firm linked to wife

Loh Yew Hui was the general manager of Heineken Asia Pacific Export (HAPE), that deals with alcoholic drinks, when he abused his position to award a contract worth more than $6 million to a firm linked to his wife.

The 55-year-old was sentenced to two years and six months’ jail on July 18.

He had pleaded guilty to one count of cheating and two counts of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct. Eight other charges were considered during sentencing.

Loh, who is no longer working for HAPE, knew that awarding a contract to Pines Impex – which was then linked to his wife Ms Hazel Neo Peh Hoon, 52 – would violate HAPE’s conflict of interest policy.

Loh then concealed Ms Neo’s interest in Pines from HAPE and represented to his superiors that one Chan Poh Kim, 66 and/or a Malaysia-based firm called Harrisons Holdings was running Pines’ business.

At the time of the cheating offence, Chan was the managing director of Harrisons which was in the alcohol distribution business.

The prosecution said that HAPE would not have awarded the contract if it had known that Ms Neo was linked to Pines.

Loh gained $2.47 million in personal benefits from cheating.

Deputy public prosecutors David Menon and Jonathan Tan stated in court documents: “HAPE suffered harm because (Loh) was sitting on both sides of the negotiating table when he committed HAPE to a contract with Pines.

“While the actual monetary harm suffered by HAPE cannot be quantified, HAPE lost the chance to get the best possible terms for the contract, because their lead negotiator was effectively negotiating with himself.”

On July 18, the prosecution applied for Ms Neo to be given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNATA) but did not disclose the reasons behind this move.

Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan then granted the discharge. She was earlier charged with offences including cheating in March 2022.

A second woman, Ms Melissa Teo Sue Tshin, 45, who was also hauled to court in March 2022, was given a similar discharge on July 12.

The DNATA means that the two women can still be prosecuted for the crimes if relevant information or evidence were to emerge later. Chan’s case is still pending.

The DPPs said that HAPE is a fully owned subsidiary of Heineken Asia Pacific (HAP).

In 2013, Loh became HAPE’s general manager and oversaw all of its operations.

In the second quarter of 2016, HAP’s management started a strategic review of HAPE’s dealings with its commercial distributors.

HAP wanted to transition HAPE towards ceasing direct business with the various commercial distributors and Loh was tasked with executing this strategic goal.

He then formed a project group and prepared a proposal for the management. Loh came up with an idea to appoint a “service agent” to act on HAPE’s behalf.

The idea was to have HAPE sell its beer to one service agent that would act as an intermediary for HAPE and deal with the various downstream distributors.

This would allow HAPE to consolidate and streamline the distribution network.

In or around October 2016, Loh presented the proposal to HAP’s management and recommended Harrisons as the proposed service agent.

HAP’s management approved the proposal and it was under the impression that Harrisons would be the proposed service agent.

Soon after, Loh had several discussions with Chan about Harrisons acting as HAPE’s service agent.

During such sessions, Chan told Loh that Harrisons did not have Singapore operations and they needed somebody who could be trusted to run the business discreetly.

Loh then suggested that Ms Neo could run the service agent company.

According to court documents, Ms Neo agreed to be part of the plan and she asked Ms Teo, who was then working for one of her other firms, to register a company in Ms Teo’s name.

Pines was incorporated on March 28, 2017 with Ms Teo and one Ms Pang Eng Tock, as its directors and shareholders.

Loh then dishonestly induced HAPE to award a sales and purchase agreement to Pines. The three-year contract was worth more than $6 million.

Between June 2017 and July 2019, Pines received nearly $4.8 million from HAPE.

The prosecutors told the court: “During that same period, (Loh, Ms Neo and Chan) received personal monetary benefits from this sum... arising from the involvement in the scheme.”

Court documents stated that on four occasions in 2017, Loh conspired with his wife to conceal $300,000 of the ill-gotten gains by transferring the amount to a bank account under the names of Ms Teo and Ms Neo.

He committed a similar offence on over 11 occasions in 2018 involving the proceeds of criminal conduct worth $520,000.

Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light but Loh was among a group of people who were later charged in court in 2022.

He was represented by Senior Counsel Sreenivasan Narayanan as well as lawyers Balamurugan Selvarajan and Kelly Wah.

On July 18, Mr Balamurugan told The Straits Times that Loh had earlier resigned from HAPE.

His bail was set at $150,000 and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Aug 15.