Public Prosecutor v Teo See Khiang Willy

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Soh Tze Bian
• Judgment Date: 01 June 2012
• Neutral Citation: [2012] SGDC 187
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: 18574/2011 & others
• Year: 2012
• Published date: 13 June 2012
• Hearing Date: 10 February 2012,05 January 2012,26 March 2012
• Plaintiff Counsel: Deputy Public Prosecutor, Ms S Puspha
• Defendant Counsel: Mr Chen Chee Yen (M/s Tan Rajah & Cheah)
• Citation: [2012] SGDC 187

District Judge Soh Tze Bian: Charges

The accused person (AP) , male aged 57, pleaded guilty before me to the following 6 charges: (i) 1 count (in DAC 18574/2011) of corruptly agreeing to accept gratification from one Tan Tuck Soo, a Director of Assets Shipowners and Managers Pte Ltd (‘ASOM’) on a day before 14 July 1999, to ensure that Phosphate Resources Limited (‘PRL’), which the AP was the Executive Director, charter vessels from ASOM and ASOM-related companies for the shipping of phosphate from PRL. This was an offence punishable under section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap 241) with a fine not exceeding $100,000/- or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both. (ii) 5 counts (in DAC 18599/2011, DAC 18601/2011, DAC 18648/201, DAC 18655/2011 and DAC 18656/2011) of abetting one Tan Tay Ming on or around October 2000, December 2000, May 2005 and November 2005 in issuing fictitious invoices bearing the letterhead of one Selangor Agencies Sdn Bhd (‘Selangor Agencies’) to PRL for respective sums of USD20,000, USD20,000, USD24,000, USD21,000 and USD29,100 in respect of services which were never provided to PRL. Each of these offences was punishable under section 477A read with section 109 of the Penal Code (Cap 224) with imprisonment for a term which may extend o 7 years, or with fine, or with both.

The AP consented for the remaining 122 charges under section 477A read with section 109 of the Penal Code (Cap 224) to be taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.

Statement of Facts

The statement of facts, admitted by the AP without qualification, read as follows:

“The Accused

1. The accused, Teo See Khiang Willy (Bl), was an Executive Diector of Phosphate Resources Ltd (PRL) an Australian registered Company. He was also the Managing Director of Phosphate Resources (Singapore) Pte Ltd (PRS), a fully owned subsidiary company of PRL. He had been with PRL since 1990. His job scope included corporate and strategic planning, marketing of phosphate and overseeing the shipping of phosphate for the company.

Background Information

2. PRL is in the business of phosphate mining on Christmas Island. The phosphate ore were then exported to its purchasers in the neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia as raw material for the manufacturing of plant fertilizers. 3. PRS was set up sometime in 1993 or 1994, as a wholly owned subsidiary of PRL, as a liaison office for its customers. PRS handled the generating of invoices, shipping and logistics matters on behalf of PRL. In brief, PRL handles the mining matters on Christmas Island while PRS acted as its representative office in Singapore to handle the paperwork. 4. As PRL does not have its own vessels, it engages the service of shipping companies to ship its phosphate ores to its customers overseas.

Facts relating to the 1st Charge (DAC18574/2011)

Background relating to Tan Tuck Soo

5. Tan Tuck Soo (also known as "Peter Tan"), was a former Director of Assets Shipowners and Managers Pte Ltd (ASOM). ASOM was a company involved in the business of providing sea freight services, and was the holding company of 5 subsidiaries (Assets Energy Pte Ltd, Assets Venture Pte Ltd, Assets Shipping Pte Ltd, Assets Freedom Pte Ltd and Assets Pioneer Pte Ltd) which each owned a particular ship that was utilized to provide sea freight services. ASOM is now defunct as it was liquidated sometime in 2003. 6. The accused met Peter Tan in 1980s through a mutual friend by the name of Michael Koh. Sometime in 1994, Peter Tan set a partnership providing shipping services by the name of PTPS. From 1994 to 1998, the accused engaged the services of Peter Tan to ship phosphate. Sometime in 1998, Peter Tan left the company and set up his own shipping company ASOM.

The Offence

7. Sometime in 1999, Peter Tan approached the accused to discuss the possibility of providing shipping service to PRL. The accused agreed and discussed the rates with Peter Tan for shipments to various ports In addition, the accused wanted an additional USD$0.50/- per metric ton of cargo as his commission for chartering the vessels from ASOM. Peter Tan agreed to the demand as he wanted to get the business from PRL. 8. Soon after this agreement, PRL began utilizing the chartering services of Peter Tan's companies Investigations revealed that payments for the shipping services were made on a consolidated basis that is, after ASOM had issued several invoices, PRL would make a consolidated payment. Investigations also revealed that Peter Tan would give the commission to the accused after he had received payments from PRL.

Method of Payment

9. Pursuant to this agreement, sometime in early July 1999, PRL chartered a vessel from ASOM to ship 6,100 metric tons (MT) of phosphate from Christmas Island to a port in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. The agreed shipping rate was supposed to be USD$11/-. On 7 July 1999, ASOM issued an invoice to PRL, for a sum of USD$70,150/- (USD$11.50 x 6100 tons), inclusive of the USD$0.50 per MT of commission which the accused had earlier demanded for. 10. On another occasion in July 1999, PRL chartered a vessel from ASOM to ship 8,800 MT of phosphate from Christmas Island to a port in Port Klang, Malaysia. The agreed shipping rate was supposed to be USD$12/-. On 12 July 1999, ASOM issued an invoice to PRL, for a sum of USD$ 110,000/- (USD$12.50 x 8800), inclusive of the USD$0.50 per MT of commission which the accused had earlier demanded for. 11. On 14 July 1999, the accused authorized Bank Boston Singapore Branch, to issue payment of USD$180,150/- to ASOM via Telegraphic Transfer for the above 2 invoices. 12. On or few days after ASOM received payment from PRL, the accused contacted Peter Tan regarding his commission. Peter then withdrew cash of USD$7450/- from the company's Maybank account and met the accused at either Duxton Road or International Plaza, whereat he passed the money in cash to the accused. 13. The accused has confessed that between July 1999 and April 2003, through the same arrangement with Peter Tan, the accused had received cash commission payments on about 90 separate occasions. The accused would sometime meet Peter Tan at the coffee house at Amara Hotel or at Peter Tan's house to collect the commission. After sometime, Peter Tan authorized Tan Bee Eng aka Iris (Office Manager of ASOM) and Goh Keng Hui (Shipping Executive of ASOM) to make the payments to the accused on Peter Tan's behalf. 14. Before 14 July 1999, the accused, being an agent of PRL, agreed to accept gratification from Tan Tuck Soo as an inducement to charter vessels from ASOM and its related companies for the shipping of phosphate from PRL. The accused had received a total amount of USD$343,939/- as commission. The accused did not deposit any of the money into any bank accounts and could not recall how he spent the money.

Facts relating to the 26th charge (DAC 18599/2011), 28th charge (DAC 18601/2011), 75th charge (DAC 18648/2011). 82nd charge (DAC 18655/2011) and 83rd charge (DAC 18656/2011)

Background relating to the above charges

15. Tan Tay Ming (also known as “Jason Tan") was the Shipping Logistic Manager for PRS. His duties were to arrange shipment from Christmas Island to the buyers in other parts of Asia. He reported directly to the accused. 16. Sometime in 1996 or 1997, PRL was introduced to National Farmers Association Malaysia ("NAFAS"), the governing body of all the State Farmers Organisation. The prime function of NAFAS is to look into the well being of farmers and the agricultural industry of Malaysia. NAFAS takes charge of purchasing of raw materials for processing into plant fertilizers. It is also one of the major customers of PRL in Malaysia. 17. Abdul Malik Bin Ningal (Malik) was the General Manager of NAFAS Bajakimia Sdn Bhd ("Bakajimia"), a subsidiary company of NAFAS. Bajakimia acts on behalf of NAFAS to source for suppliers of fertilizers and chemicals for agricultural industries in Malaysia. He first got to know the accused sometime in 1996. Subsequently, the accused negotiated with Malik about supplying of phosphate to NAFAS. Malik told the accused that he could recommend phosphate from PRL to NAFAS, but he would want a commission in return. Investigations revealed that Malik demanded about USD$2 per metric ton of phosphate purchased by NAFAS. The accused agreed and informed Malik that he would accordingly "mark up" the relevant invoices by the same amount to factor in the commission. The result is to inflate the selling price of phosphate to meet the amount of commission needed to pay Malik. 18. The accused agreed to the rates that Malik wanted and with this understanding, PRL stated supplying phosphate to NAFAS. Between 1999 and 2009, the accused had given commission to Malik on 65 occasions totalling USD$1,618,508.80/-.

The Offences

19. In order to facilitate transfer of money, the accused asked Malik to set up a 'shell' company. When Malik needed a forwarding address for this 'shell' company, the accused allowed Malik to use PRL's address as Henkin's forwarding address. Accordingly, Malik set up a company known as "Henkin Group Limited" and provided the accused with an account number. However, the accused was aware that PRL would not be able to transfer any money without an invoice from Malik. 20. In order for the accused to authorize the payment of commission from PRL to Malik, the accused instructed Jason Tan to generate invoices from a template saved in the office computer bearing a fictitious agency "Selangor Agencies SDN BHD, wholly owned by the HENKIN GROUP...