Public Prosecutor v Ismawi bin Ismail

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Kessler Soh
• Judgment Date: 12 March 2019
• Neutral Citation: [2019] SGDC 38
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC-921572-2018 & Ors
• Year: 2019
• Published date: 19 March 2019
• Hearing Date: 07 January 2019,21 January 2019
• Plaintiff Counsel: DPP Eugene Sng (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Kalidass S/O Murugaiyan (Kalidass Law Corporation)
• Citation: [2019] SGDC 38

District Judge Kessler Soh:

Mr Ismawi Bin Ismail, a Singaporean currently aged 41 years, was employed as a warehouse supervisor by C. Steinweg Warehousing (F.E.) Pte Ltd (“Steinweg”). He was deployed to Steinweg’s warehouse at 28 Jurong Port Road (the “Warehouse”). Between June and December 2017, he misappropriated 129 tonnes of nickel cathode plates (worth about $2,088,000) stored at the Warehouse. He facilitated the crime by bribing a warehouse supervisor and a security officer.

19 charges were brought against the defendant. One charge was for criminal breach of trust, while the remaining charges were for corruption. Upon a plea offer by the prosecution he pleaded guilty to eight charges, with the remaining charges taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing. On 21 January 2019 he was sentenced to a total of 6 years and 12 months’ imprisonment, which he commenced serving. He filed the present appeal against the sentence on 29 January 2019.

The grounds of my decision on the sentence are set out below.

PLEA OF GUILT Charges

The defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust, an offence under s 408 of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed) (the “CBT Charge”); and seven charges of giving corrupt gratification, under s 6(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap 241) (the “Corruption Charges”).

The CBT Charge related to the dishonest misappropriation of 129 tonnes of nickel cathode plates worth approximately $2,088,000:

(DAC-934274-2018)

You [...] are charged that you, from June 2017 to December 2017, at the C. Steinweg Warehousing (F.E.) Pte Ltd (“Steinweg”) warehouse located at 28 Jurong Port Road, Singapore, being employed as a servant of Steinweg in the capacity of a warehouse supervisor, were entrusted with property, to wit, nickel cathode plates stored at the said warehouse, and did dishonestly misappropriate approximately 129 tonnes of the said nickel cathode plates worth approximately SGD $2,088,000, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 408 of the Penal Code (Chapter 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

The seven Corruption Charges related to the giving of corrupt gratification — to another warehouse supervisor employed by Steinweg, one Zainal Bin Supardi (“Zainal”); and to a security officer deployed at the Warehouse, one Letchumanan A/L Manickam (“Letchumanan”). The key details of the Corruption Charges are summarised in the table below:

Charge	Provision	Salient details
DAC-921572-2018 (1st Corruption Charge)	s 6(b) read with s 29(a) PCA	In mid-June 2017, did abet by instigating Zainal to corruptly give gratification of $100 to Letchumanan as a reward for allowing an unknown lorry to enter and exit the premises of 28 Jurong Port Road without recording its entry/exit details on a visitor movement log sheet and checking the contents of the lorry on its departure.
DAC-921575-2018 (4th Corruption Charge)	s 6(b) PCA	On 11 September 2017, did corruptly give gratification of $800 to Letchumanan as a reward for allowing an unknown lorry to enter and exit the premises of 28 Jurong Port Road without recording its entry/exit details on a visitor movement log sheet and checking the contents of the lorry on its departure.
DAC-921576-2018 (5th Corruption Charge)	s 6(b) PCA	On 2 October 2017, did corruptly give gratification of $800 to Letchumanan as a reward for allowing an unknown lorry to enter and exit the premises of 28 Jurong Port Road without recording its entry/exit details on a visitor movement log sheet and checking the contents of the lorry on its departure.
DAC-921580-2018 (9th Corruption Charge)	s 6(b) PCA	On 13 November 2017 did corruptly give gratification of $800 to Letchumanan as a reward for allowing an unknown lorry to enter and exit the premises of 28 Jurong Port Road without recording its entry/exit details on a visitor movement log sheet and checking the contents of the lorry on its departure.
DAC-921584-2018 (13th Corruption Charge)	s 6(b) PCA	In September 2017, did corruptly give gratification of $200 to Zainal as a reward for (1) covering a CCTV camera capturing footage of vehicle/personnel movements at 28 Jurong Port Road and (2) instructing Letchumanan to allow an unknown lorry to enter and exit the premises without recording its entry/exit details on a visitor movement log sheet and checking the contents of the lorry on its departure.
DAC-921585-2018 (14th Corruption Charge)	s 6(b) PCA	In October 2017, did corruptly give gratification of $200 to Zainal as a reward for (1) covering a CCTV camera capturing footage of vehicle/personnel movements at 28 Jurong Port Road and (2) instructing Letchumanan to allow an unknown lorry to enter and exit the premises without recording its entry/exit details on a visitor movement log sheet and checking the contents of the lorry on its departure.
DAC-921589-2018 (18th Corruption Charge)	s 6(b) PCA	In November 2017, did corruptly give gratification of $200 to Zainal as a reward for (1) covering a CCTV camera capturing footage of vehicle/personnel movements at 28 Jurong Port Road and (2) instructing Letchumanan to allow an unknown lorry to enter and exit the premises without recording its entry/exit details on a visitor movement log sheet and checking the contents of the lorry on its departure.

Facts Background – initial conspiracy to sell wooden pallets

Sometime in mid-2017, at a canteen near the Warehouse, the defendant was approached by a person who introduced himself as “Vijay”. Vijay asked him whether he had anything to sell. He told Vijay that he could sell empty wooden pallets (of the type used to hold goods).

In June 2017, the defendant told Zainal (another warehouse supervisor deployed to the Warehouse) of his plan to sell empty wooden pallets from the Warehouse. He told Zainal that he would pack and arrange the pallets, and arrange for a lorry to pick up the pallets from the Warehouse after 8 pm, when the other employees of Steinweg would not be present.

He asked Zainal to help him by covering a CCTV camera at the Warehouse. He also asked Zainal to inform Letchumanan, a security officer deployed to the Warehouse as a night security guard, of the matter. (Letchumanan was an employee of APRO Asian Protection Pte Ltd, a security company engaged by Steinweg.) The defendant asked Zainal to speak with Letchumanan because, although both he and Zainal were warehouse supervisors, Zainal was more senior and he felt that Zainal had more authority. Zainal was to instruct Letchumanan to allow unknown lorries to enter and exit the Warehouse premises without recording their entry and exit details on a visitor movement log sheet or checking the contents of the lorries on departure. This was necessary as the empty wooden pallets belonged to Steinweg and the defendant was not authorised to remove them from the Warehouse or to sell them. The defendant also asked Zainal to pay Letchumanan for his help. He told Zainal that he would give him $200 for this. Zainal agreed.

On the defendant’s part, he would enter the Warehouse office and disarm the Warehouse alarm using the passcode that had been assigned to him. He would then block the view of the security cameras in the Warehouse by covering them with cloth. He would prepare and load the wooden pallets onto unknown lorries as arranged with Vijay.

Pursuant to this arrangement, empty wooden pallets were removed from the Warehouse on unknown lorries on various occasions from June 2017.

Subsequent misappropriation of nickel cathode plates for sale

Subsequently, an associate of Vijay, named “Lingam”, approached the defendant to ask whether he had anything else to sell from the Warehouse. Despite having no authority to do so, the defendant agreed to sell Lingam the nickel cathode plates stored at the Warehouse.

The defendant’s arrangement with Zainal and Letchumanan continued, but he did not inform them that he would be selling nickel cathode plates (instead of empty wooden pallets).

Payment of bribes to warehouse supervisor (Zainal)

On three occasions in or around September, October and November 2017, the defendant informed Zainal that lorries were to be loaded with empty wooden pallets at the Warehouse. Zainal informed Letchumanan and instructed him to allow the lorries to enter and exit the Warehouse premises without recording their entry and exit details on a visitor movement log sheet or checking the contents of the lorries on departure.

Zainal also returned with the defendant to the Warehouse after working hours to block the view of a CCTV camera capturing footage of vehicle and personnel movements at the Warehouse. He would do so either by using a forklift to move a container to block the CCTV camera or by using a long pole to place a cloth over the camera. Zainal would then leave the Warehouse before the lorries arrived, returning only after they had left to unblock the view of the CCTV camera.

Two or three days after each occasion, the defendant would meet Zainal in a toilet at the Warehouse and give him $200. This included the three occasions in September, October and November 2017.¹

Involvement of warehouse administrator (Mohd Ali)

Sometime in November 2017, the defendant stopped involving Zainal in this arrangement. He dealt with Letchumanan directly. The defendant also approached a warehouse administrator deployed to another of Steinweg’s warehouses, one Mohd Ali Hanafiah Bin Mahamod (“Mohd Ali”). He told Mohd Ali of his plan to sell nickel cathode plates from the Warehouse. Mohd Ali agreed to participate, and subsequently aided the defendant in shifting the nickel cathode plates in the Warehouse and loading them onto unknown lorries.

Payment of bribes to security officer (Letchumanan)

Back in June 2017, after the defendant informed Zainal...