Public Prosecutor v Teo Chu Ha @ Henry Teo and another

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Ng Cheng Thiam
• Judgment Date: 13 September 2021
• Neutral Citation: [2021] SGDC 196
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: District Arrest Case No. 921493/2017 & Ors and DAC 921544/2017 & Ors Magistrate’s Appeals No. MA 9011/2021/01-02 and MA 9012/2021/01-02
• Year: 2021
• Published date: 22 September 2021
• Hearing Date: 25 September 2019,18 September 2019,05 March 2019,09 September 2019,11 September 2019,06 March 2019,13 March 2020,27 March 2019,12 August 2020,13 July 2020,23 July 2018,12 March 2020,21 September 2019,19 October 2020,10 September 2019,25 July 2018,17 September 2019,23 November 2020,24 September 2019,26 July 2018,22 September 2019,11 January 2021,23 September 2019,28 March 2019,26 March 2019,09 March 2020,19 September 2019,11 March 2020,16 September 2019,12 September 2019,29 March 2019,24 July 2018,10 March 2020,20 September 2019,07 March 2019,04 March 2019,15 January 2021
• Plaintiff Counsel: Deputy Public Prosecutors Mr Navin Naidu, Mr Ang Siok Chen and Mr Rashvinpal Kaur Dhaliwal (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Mr Bachoo Mohan Singh and Mr Too Xing Ji (BMS Law LLC)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law,Statutory Offences,Prevention of Corruption Act,Conspiracy to corruptly receive gratification,Corrupt intent or guilty knowledge,Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act,Assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct
• Citation: [2021] SGDC 196

District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam: Introduction

The accused persons are Teo Chu Ha @ Henry Teo (“Henry”) and Judy Teo Suya Bik (“Judy”). They were each charged with 50 counts under s 5(a)(i) read with s 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241, 1993 Rev Ed) (“PCA”) (collectively, “the PCA Charges”). They also faced one charge each for an offence under s 44(1)(a) punishable under s 44(5)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking And Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (Cap. 65A, 2000 Rev Ed) (“CDSA”) read with s 109 of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed) (“PC”) (“the CDSA Charges”). They claimed trial to all the charges. They were jointly tried on all the charges.

The 1st to 25th charges faced by Henry and Judy concerned offences under the PCA. These twenty five charges were similarly worded, differing only in respect of the amount of the gratification involved and the date of receiving the gratification. Henry’s and Judy’s 1st Charge is reproduced below: Henry’s 1st Charge (DAC-921493-2017) [Y]ou, sometime in 2006, in Singapore or elsewhere, did abet the commission of an offence under section 5(a)(i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241 by engaging in a conspiracy with one Judy Teo Suya Bik (“Judy”), for Judy to corruptly receive for herself gratification from Shanghai Long-Distance Transportation Co. (“SLT”), as a reward for assisting SLT in securing Logistics Provider contracts with Maxtor Technology (Suzhou) Co Ltd (“Maxtor”) and Seagate Technology International (“Seagate”), namely, the Maxtor/SLT Logistics Services Provider Agreement dated 1 December 2006 and the Seagate/SLT Logistics Services Provider Agreement dated 1 December 2006 (“contracts”), and in pursuance of such conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing, an act took place, to wit, you provided Judy confidential information obtained by virtue of your position as Senior Director of Logistics at Seagate, and the act abetted was committed, to wit, Judy corruptly received gratification of CNY 17,128.00 on about 6 April 2007 in Bank of China Account No. XXX from SLT as a reward for assisting SLT in securing the contracts by providing such confidential information to SLT, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 5(a)(i) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act Chapter 241. Judy’s 1st Charge (DAC-921544-2017) [Y]ou, sometime in 2006, in Singapore or elsewhere, did abet the commission of an offence under section 5(a)(i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241 by engaging in a conspiracy with one Teo Chu Ha @ Henry Teo (“Henry”), to corruptly receive for yourself gratification from Shanghai Long-Distance Transportation Co. (“SLT”), as a reward for assisting SLT in securing Logistics Provider contracts with Maxtor Technology (Suzhou) Co Ltd (“Maxtor”) and Seagate Technology International (“Seagate”), namely, the Maxtor/SLT Logistics Services Provider Agreement dated 1 December 2006 and the Seagate/SLT Logistics Services Provider Agreement dated 1 December 2006 (“contracts”), and in pursuance of such conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing, an act took place, to wit, Henry provided you confidential information obtained by virtue of his position as Senior Director of Logistics at Seagate in respect of a tender involving Seagate, and the act abetted was committed, to wit, you corruptly received gratification of CNY 17,128.00 on about 6 April 2007 in Bank of China Account No. XXX from SLT as a reward for assisting SLT in securing the contracts by providing such confidential information to SLT, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 5(a)(i) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act Chapter 241.

The 26th to 50th charges faced by Henry and Judy concerned offences under the PCA. These twenty five charges were similarly worded, differing only in respect of the amount of the gratification involved and the date of receiving the gratification. Henry’s and Judy’s 26th Charge is reproduced below: Henry’s 26th Charge (DAC-921518-2017) [Y]ou, sometime in 2006, in Singapore or elsewhere, did abet the commission of an offence under section 5(a)(i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241 by engaging in a conspiracy with one Judy Teo Suya Bik (“Judy”), for Judy to corruptly receive for herself gratification from an entity said to be called Feili International Transport Co. Ltd. (“Feili”) as a reward for assisting Feili in securing Logistics Provider contracts with Seagate Technology International (“Seagate”), namely, the Seagate / Feili Logistics Services Provider Agreement dated 1 December 2006 (“contract”), and in pursuance of such conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing, an act took place, to wit, you provided Judy with confidential information obtained by virtue of your position as Senior Director of Logistics at Seagate, and the act abetted was committed, to wit, Judy corruptly received gratification of CNY 395,790.00 on about 21 November 2008 in Bank of China Account No. XXX from Feili as a reward for assisting Feili in securing the contract by providing such confidential information to Feili, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 5(a)(i) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act Chapter 241. Judy’s 26th Charge (DAC-921569-2017) [Y]ou, sometime in 2006, in Singapore or elsewhere, did abet the commission of an offence under section 5(a)(i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241 by engaging in a conspiracy with one Teo Chu Ha @ Henry Teo (“Henry”), to corruptly receive for yourself gratification from an entity said to be called Feili International Transport Co. Ltd. (“Feili”) as a reward for assisting Feili in securing Logistics Provider contracts with Seagate Technology International (“Seagate”), namely, the Seagate / Feili Logistics Services Provider Agreement dated 1 December 2006 (“contract”), and in pursuance of such conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing, an act took place, to wit, Henry provided you with confidential information obtained by virtue of his position as Senior Director of Logistics at Seagate, and the act abetted was committed, to wit, you corruptly received gratification of CNY 395,790.00 on about 21 November 2008 in Bank of China Account No. XXX from Feili as a reward for assisting Feili in securing the contract by providing such confidential information to Feili, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 5(a)(i) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act Chapter 241.

The 51st charge faced by Henry and Judy concerned an offence under the CDSA. The CDSA Charges are reproduced below: Henry’s 51st Charge (DAC-921543-2017) [Y]ou, sometime on or before July 2009, in Singapore or elsewhere, did abet the commission of an offence under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking And Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation Of Benefits) Act (Chapter 65A), by engaging in a conspiracy with Judy Teo Suk Biya (“Judy”) for you to be concerned in an arrangement, when you knew that Judy is a person who has engaged in criminal conduct, namely, engaging in a conspiracy to corruptly receive gratification for herself, an offence under section 5(a)(i) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241; and in pursuance of such conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing, an act took place, to wit, you deposited monies which you had withdrawn from a Bank of China account in the name of Judy, into your personal bank accounts between July 2009 and September 2010 in Singapore, knowing that by the arrangement, the control of Judy’s benefits of criminal conduct, amounting to S$703,480, is facilitated, and the act abetted was committed, and you have committed an offence under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking And Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation Of Benefits) Act (Chapter 65A) punishable under section 44(5)(a) of the same Act read with Section 109 of the Penal Code. Judy’s 51st Charge (DAC-921594-2017) [Y]ou, sometime on or before July 2009, in Singapore or elsewhere, did abet the commission of an offence under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking And Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation Of Benefits) Act (Chapter 65A), by engaging in a conspiracy with Teo Chu Ha @ Henry Teo (“Henry”) for Henry to be concerned in an arrangement, when he knew that you are a person who has engaged in criminal conduct, namely, engaging in a conspiracy to corruptly receive gratification for yourself, an offence under section 5(a)(i) read with section 29(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241; and in pursuance of such conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing, an act took place, to wit, Henry deposited monies which he had withdrawn from a Bank of China account in your name, into his personal bank accounts between July 2009 to September 2010 in Singapore, knowing that by the arrangement, the control of another person’s, namely your, benefits of criminal conduct, amounting S$703,480, is facilitated, and the act abetted was committed, and you have committed an offence under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking And Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation Of Benefits) Act (Chapter 65A) punishable under section 44(5)(a) of the same Act read with Section 109 of the Penal Code.

In Annex 1, I have arranged the charges in a sequential order with their corresponding “DAC” numbers. In Annex 2, I have set out the amount of the gratification involved for each PCA charge and the date of receiving the gratification.

At the conclusion of the joint trial, I was satisfied that the Prosecution had proven its case on all the proceeded charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, I found Henry and Judy guilty and convicted them on all charges.

After reviewing the parties’ submissions on...