Public Prosecutor v Wan Wei Hong

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Bala Reddy
• Judgment Date: 06 September 2023
• Neutral Citation: [2023] SGDC 204
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: District Arrest Case No DAC 917857 of 2020 and Others, Magistrate’s Appeals No 9174 of 2023-01
• Hearing Date: 27 July 2022,28 July 2022,29 July 2022,03 March 2023,27 February 2023,06 March 2023,07 March 2023,08 March 2023,22 June 2023,23 June 2023,26 June 2023,27 June 2023,28 June 2023
• Citation: [2023] SGDC 204
• Year: 2023
• Plaintiff Counsel: DPP Sarah Thaker (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Ms Chua Siow Lee Dora and Boon Khoon Lim (Dora Boon & Company)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law,Statutory Offences,Prevention of Corruption Act,Criminal Procedure and Sentencing,Sentencing,Principles,Penalty,Default Sentence
• Published date: 13 September 2023

Senior District Judge Bala Reddy:

The present case arises from a contract of services for maintenance of a fleet of vessels owned by the accused’s employer, Fratelli Cosulich Bunkers (S) Pte. Ltd. (“FCB”). FCB is a bunker trader in Singapore and operates a fleet of vessels for its operations. From 2009 to 2019, the accused, Wan Wei Hong (“Accused”) was employed as a Technical Manager by FCB in the Shipping Department. During the course of his employment, for over a period of around two years (i.e. from between 25 June 2017 and 18 January 2019), the Accused was found to have received fund transfers to his personal bank account and cash cheques from one Ng Sen Beng (later “PW4 Ng”). PW4 Ng was the director and sole shareholder of M/S Osis Service Singapore Pte Ltd (Reg. No.: 201018051G) (“Osis”). Osis is in the business of providing ship management services to ship owners. Osis began submitting quotations for FCB’s contracts sometime in or around March 2017.

The proceeded charges against the Accused are as follows: Three amalgamated charges under s 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap 241, Rev. Ed. 1993) (“PCA”) read with s 124(4) Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68, Rev. Ed. 2012) for corruptly obtaining gratification from PW4 Ng as an inducement for advancing the business interests of Osis with FCB.

I convicted the Accused on all three proceeded charges and sentenced the Accused to a global sentence of 24 weeks’ imprisonment. The sentences imposed are as follows: DAC 917857-2020 (1st charge): 14 weeks’ imprisonment (consecutive); DAC 917858-2020 (2nd charge): 11 weeks’ imprisonment; and DAC 917859-2020 (3rd charge): 10 weeks’ imprisonment (consecutive). I also impose a penalty order under Section 13 of the PCA for the sum of $41,250, in default 2 weeks’ imprisonment.

The Charges

The charges DAC-917857-2020, DAC-917858-2020 and DAC-917859-2020 read as follows:

DAC-917857-2020

“You,

…

are charged that you, on not less than 18 occasions between 25 June 2017 and 18 January 2019, in Singapore, being an agent, to wit, a Technical Manager in the employ of Fratelli Cosulich Bunkers (S) Pte Ltd (“FCB”), did embark on a course of conduct of corruptly obtaining gratification in the form funds transfers into your bank account (POSB Savings Account Number: XXX) amounting to a total of S$32,200/-, from one Ng Sen Beng, the Director of Osis Service Singapore Pte Ltd (“Osis”), as an inducement for doing an act in relation to your principal’s affairs, to wit, to advance the business interests of Osis with FCB, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241, which is an amalgamated charge pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code, Chapter 68.”

DAC-917858-2020

“You,

…

are charged that you, on not less than 4 occasions between around 12 January 2018 and 6 July 2018, in Singapore, being an agent, to wit, a Technical Manager in the employ of Fratelli Cosulich Bunkers (S) Pte Ltd (“FCB”), did embark on a course of conduct of corruptly obtaining gratification in the form of cash cheques amounting to a total of not less than S$15,000/-, from one Ng Sen Beng, the Director of Osis Service Singapore Pte Ltd (“Osis”), as an inducement for doing an act in relation to your principal’s affairs, to wit, to advance the business interests of Osis with FCB, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241, which is an amalgamated charge pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code, Chapter 68.”

DAC-917859-2020

“You,

…

are charged that you, on not less than 4 occasions between around 28 April 2017 and 25 May 2018, in Singapore, being an agent, to wit, a Technical Manager in the employ of Fratelli Cosulich Bunkers (S) Pte Ltd (“FCB”), did embark on a course of conduct of corruptly obtaining gratification in the form of cash amounting to a total of not less than S$12,550/-, from one Ng Sen Beng, the Director of Osis Service Singapore Pte Ltd (“Osis”), as an inducement for doing an act in relation to your principal’s affairs, to wit, to advance the business interests of Osis with FCB, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241, which is an amalgamated charge pursuant to Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code, Chapter 68.”

Salient Facts

The Accused was appointed as the Technical Manager for FCB's Shipping Department, which oversaw the maintenance of the company's fleet of vessels. The department's usual practice involved engaging contractors to carry out repair and maintenance tasks. Whenever procurement was necessary, the standard operating procedure was to obtain at least three repair quotes, unless specific exceptions were justified (such as urgent repair needs).

Rachel Lim Chiow San (later “PW2 Rachel”), the ship management executive, took charge of collecting these quotations. Subsequently, she submitted the compiled quotes to Silvia Bordoni (later “PW3 Silvia”), the Shipping Manager at FCB. As the Technical Manager, the Accused had access to the quotations submitted for FCB's projects and actively contributed insights during the evaluation process conducted by PW3 Silvia.

In early 2017, the Accused was introduced to PW4 Ng, who held the position of Managing Director at Osis. The Accused learnt that PW4 Ng was the Managing Director of Osis. The Accused discovered that Osis was interested in bidding for contracts with FCB. Subsequently, in March 2017, Osis became an FCB contractor, and as a result, FCB regularly awarded them jobs involving the repair and maintenance of machinery on their vessels. Osis, in turn, subcontracted these tasks to other contractors.

After Osis became an FCB contractor, the Accused approached PW4 Ng, seeking loans. The Accused was well aware of PW4 Ng's interest in securing more contracts with FCB and sought his assistance in this regard. PW4 Ng agreed to provide the requested loans, with the expectation that it would help Osis secure future contracts with FCB.

Neither of them kept records of the loan amounts, and there was no formal agreement regarding the repayment terms during the relevant period. PW4 Ng did not request repayment from the Accused during this time. However, by accepting these loans, the Accused put himself in a position of indebtedness to PW4 Ng and felt compelled to promote Osis's business interests with FCB. Consequently, the Accused actively tried to help Osis secure jobs with FCB, In particular: Recommending Osis to PW3 Silvia during quotation evaluation meetings; Disclosing the prices quoted by Osis' competitors to PW4 Ng.¹

Bank transfers made by PW4 Ng to the Accused (DAC 917857-2020)

The Agreed Statement of Facts (“ASOF”) admitted to by the Accused sets out a series of no less than 18 fund transfers made by PW4 Ng to the Accused between 25 June 2017 and 18 January 2019. The said fund transfers were made to the Accused’s POSB Savings Account No. XXX from either the PW4 Ng’s personal POSB Account No. XXX or POSB Account No. XXX, which he held jointly with his wife, Chen Sze Ling.²

S/No.	Date	Mode of Transfer	From POSB Acct	Amount of Transfer
1.	25 June 2017	ATM transfer	XXX	$2,200
2.	23 July 2017	ATM transfer	XXX	$1,500
3.	1 August 2017	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$2,500
4.	15 August 2017	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$3,000
5.	5 September 2017	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$2,000
6.	13 September 2017	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$2,000
7.	13 October 2017	ATM transfer	XXX	$3,000
8.	24 November 2017	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$1,500
9.	30 November 2017	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$7,000
10.	4 January 2018	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$900
11.	19 January 2018	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$2,000
12.	26 January 2018	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$2,000
13.	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$700
14.	9 March 2018	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$100
15.	4 April 2018	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$200
16.	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$300
17.	19 April 2018	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$300
18.	18 January 2019	Internet banking transfer	XXX	$1,000
Total: $32,200

Cheques given by PW4 Ng to the Accused (DAC 917858-2020)

The ASOF includes a record of cash cheques issued by PW4 Ng from Osis's bank account to the Accused, who subsequently encashed them. Between 12 January 2018 and 6 July 2018, there were at least four cash cheques issued. The Accused retained at least the amounts indicated in the last column of the table below, returning the remaining funds to PW4 Ng:³

Date of cheque	Cheque Number	Amount on cheque	Amount kept by the Accused (not less than)
12 January 2018	356214	$5,000	$5,000
1 June 2018	883333	$5,000	$3,000
29 June 2018	883344	$10,000	$4,000
6 July 2018	888350	$9,900	$3,000
Total: Not less than $15,000

Cash given by PW4 Ng to the Accused (DAC 917859-2020)

Further, on not less than 4 occasions between 28 April 2017 and 25 May 2018, PW4 Ng gave loans amounting to $12,550 to the accused in the form of cash. PW4 Ng would issue cash cheques from Osis' account, cash them, retain a portion of the cash for himself on three occasions, and disburse the following amounts of cash to the Accused:⁴

Date of cheque encashed Cheque Number Amount encashed Amount kept by Co-Accused

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