Public Prosecutor v Adrian Tan

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Eddy Tham Tong Kong
• Judgment Date: 23 August 2010
• Neutral Citation: [2010] SGDC 352
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC 12095-6/2009; Magistrate’s Appeal No 2/2010
• Year: 2010
• Published date: 11 October 2010
• Hearing Date: 06 January 2010,03 December 2009,02 December 2009,13 January 2010,01 December 2009,24 December 2009,04 December 2009
• Plaintiff Counsel: Deputy Public Prosecutors Wong Kok Weng and Agnes Chan
• Defendant Counsel: Defence Counsel Manoj Nandwani (Gabriel Law Corporation)
• Citation: [2010] SGDC 352

District Judge Eddy Tham Tong Kong:

This is an appeal against conviction and sentence by the accused.

The accused had claimed trial to two charges of accepting bribes. In the first charge (DAC 12095/2009), he was alleged to have corruptly accepted gratification in the form of one packet of contraband cigarettes from one unknown Indonesian Naval staff, as an inducement to do an act in relation to his principal’s affairs, by assisting some members of the Indonesian Navy to transport contraband cigarettes out of Changi Naval Base (“CNB”). In the second charge (DAC 12096/2009) he was alleged to have corruptly accepted through one Ee Jin Liang (“Ee”), gratification of 4 packets of contraband cigarettes as a reward for having done an act in relation to his principal’s affairs by assisting some members of the Indonesian Navy to transport contraband cigarettes out of Tuas Naval Base (“TNB”). Both charges are for an offence under section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241 (“the Act”).

At the end of the trial, I amended the 2 charges to reflect that the goods transported were “boxes wrapped in black thrash bags” which the accused “believed to contain contraband cigarettes” and convicted him on both the amended charges.

I sentenced the accused to 15 months’ imprisonment on each charge and further imposed penalties of $4.20 and $16.80 respectively on the 2 charges. The total imprisonment term was 15 months’ imprisonment as I ordered both imprisonment terms to run concurrently.

Being dissatisfied with the Court’s decision, the accused filed an appeal against both conviction and sentence. At the time of the writing of this ground of decision, the accused has paid up the penalties of $21.00 and was on bail pending appeal.

The Statement of Agreed Facts (exhibit P2)

The prosecution and defence jointly tendered a Statement of Agreed Facts. I will set out these material facts which are not in dispute and which are also consistent with the evidence adduced before me.

Background information

The accused was a full time National Service man under the charge of the Land Transport Office (“LTO”) of the 3rd Transport Battalion, Singapore Armed Forces (“SAF”). He held the rank of “Lance Corporal” and was attached as a driver to the TNB sometime in April 2007.

The LTO supports the operational and administrative transport needs of the CNB and TNB. Drivers under the LTO are trained to handle military vehicles and minibuses. Their job scope includes chauffeuring of personnel, the transporting of equipment, ammunition or any other stores as specified in the indent forms or operational requests from the various units. On receipt of an indent form/operational request, drivers would be assigned based on their availability, driving competency and mileage accumulated.

During their induction into the LTO, all drivers are informed of the list of prohibited items which should not be brought into Camp. One of the prohibited items stated in the list is “contraband cigarettes”.

The Indonesia-Singapore Coordinated Patrol

The Indonesia-Singapore Coordinated Patrol (“ISCP”) is part of an on-going cooperation exercise between the Coastal Commands of Singapore and Indonesia to maintain close bilateral relationships with both countries hosting the monthly meetings on alternate months. The Indonesian Navy would visit Singapore on every even month of the year. The duration of each ISCP is about 3 days.

For the ISCP meetings held in Singapore, a Liaison Officer will be appointed to liaise with the Indonesian Navy personnel on their requirements, including arranging for their transportation for official events and recreation. Such transport will then be provided by the LTO at TNB.

The ISCP Meeting in December2008 and the arrest of Ee

During the ISCP meeting held in Singapore in December 2008, Ee was one of the two assigned drivers. Investigations revealed that at this meeting, some of the Indonesian Navy personnel had brought in contraband cigarettes for sale to a Singapore syndicate. On 14 December 2008, Ee was arrested for assisting to transport such duty-unpaid cigarettes from within the grounds of CNB to the Visitors’ carpark located just outside the premises of the CNB. The Singapore syndicate had arranged to pick up the goods from the Indonesian Navy personnel at the Visitors’ carpark. Ee together with another driver admitted to receiving contraband cigarettes as a reward for assisting the Indonesian Navy personnel to transport the contraband cigarettes.

Facts relating to the 1st charge DAC 12095/2009

On a day in April 2008, the Indonesian Navy arrived at CNB for the scheduled ISCP meeting.

The Liaison Officer was Captain Cheong Wei Xiang Gavin (“Capt Cheong”). The accused and one Koh Boon Tat (“Koh”) were assigned to be the drivers for this meeting. Koh was the understudy to the accused as this was Koh’s first assignment as a driver for the ISCP.

Facts relating to the 2nd Charge DAC 12096/2009

On a day in June 2008, the Indonesian Navy arrived at the TNB for the scheduled ISCP meeting.

The Liaison Officer was Captain Wang Guangzheng, Zen (“Capt Wang”). The accused and Ee were the assigned drivers for this meeting. As this was Ee’s first assignment as a driver for the ISCP, the accused was appointed as the mentor to guide Ee in the assignment.

The prosecution’s case

Essentially the prosecution’s case is that during the two ISCP meetings in Singapore held in April and June 2008, the accused whilst on duty as an assigned driver had assisted the Indonesian Navy personnel of transporting boxes containing contraband cigarettes from near the wharf to out of the Naval Bases.

With regard to the first charge, Capt Cheong (PW1) testified that sometime in the afternoon on the first day of the ISCP in April 2008, the Indonesian Navy crew went for their ‘shore programme’ which allowed them to leave the CNB for recreational activities. He had instructed the drivers including the accused to commence shuttling such crew who wanted to leave the base for their recreational activities from the wharf to the guardhouse located at the exit of the base. He then proceeded to the guardhouse to check whether the 40-seater commercial bus which he had arranged had arrived to fetch the Indonesian Navy crew and to direct the Indonesian crew to the commercial bus.

While there, he observed the minibus made several trips to shuttle Indonesian Navy crew to the guardhouse. He also saw some crew who were not on the mini-bus walking out of the base on foot. He saw some Indonesian navy crew carry several paper boxes with some boxes either wrapped in black or dark-coloured wrapping or sealed with adhesive tape. He estimated that there were about 20 of such boxes. He saw some of the boxes being loaded onto some small vans at the carpark.

While offering to help one of the crew members to carry the boxes, he had casually asked why they were carrying such a large number of boxes. The reply was that “these were gifts and rations for their friends and families in Singapore”. Capt Cheong did not probe further after hearing this response. Although he did think it was odd for them to bring so many boxes, he did not deem it polite to probe further since the crewman had told him that these were personal belongings. If he had known that the boxes contained contraband cigarettes, he would have investigated further. He was aware that the Indonesian Navy crew was not permitted to bring contraband cigarettes into Singapore as this would contravene the laws of Singapore and the regulations of the Singapore Navy. He was also aware of a general ‘Mindef’ (Ministry of Defence) order that all gifts are to be reported. However, under cross-examination, he agreed that if he was given a drink when aboard the ship, he would not seek his superior’s approval as he viewed the offer of a drink as a gesture of hospitality.

Koh (PW6) gave evidence that sometime in the early afternoon, after receiving a call from an officer, he and the accused reported to the wharf with the minibus. At the wharf he saw the Indonesian Navy crew disembarking from the ship carrying 8-10 boxes wrapped in black thrash plastic bags. One of the Indonesian crew conversed with the accused in Malay and the Indonesian Navy crew started loading the boxes onto the minibus. They loaded 8-10 boxes onto the minibus. He could not understand Malay and hence was not aware of the content of the conversation. However, after the conversations, the accused told him that the Indonesian crewmen were going to load the boxes onto the minibus. He confirmed that the accused did tell him that the boxes contained shampoo whilst they were at the wharf.

He also testified that prior to the loading of the boxes onto the minibus, one of the Indonesian crewmen gave him and the accused 4 packets of Samponae cigarettes, of which he took 3 packets and the accused took one packet. He knew that the cigarettes which he received were contraband cigarettes as each of the packets he was given contained 16 cigarette sticks while those sold legally in Singapore would contain 20 cigarette sticks. He considered the packets given to them as a form of good gesture from the Indonesian Navy crew. He had heard from the accused and some of his senior drivers that they would get cigarettes as a reward for ferrying the Indonesian Navy crew during the ISCP events.

He further confirmed that they would not be allowed to transport contraband cigarettes and if he knew that the boxes contained contraband cigarettes, he would not have accepted the contraband cigarettes from the Indonesian crew. He also said that the accused would be doing something wrong if he continued to transport the boxes after knowing that the boxes contain contraband cigarettes.

With regard to the second charge, Capt Wang (PW3) testified that as the Liaison Officer for the ISCP held in June 2008, he had briefed the...