Two Indian nationals jailed for bribing Customs officer
By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 03 December 2010 1837 hrs
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SINGAPORE: Two Indian nationals were jailed on Friday for bribing a Singapore Customs Officer.
They gave bribes totalling S$21,650 to former Higher Customs Officer Murgeiyah Subramaniam between July 2008 and March last year.
The 34-year-old, who was working at Changi Airport Terminal 3, would then endorse their Tourist GST refund applications without verifying the items stated on their forms.
One of the men, 46-year-old Subramaniam Jeyapandiyan, who provides courier services to Indian foreign workers in Singapore, was jailed for six months.
This, after he pleaded guilty to three charges involving S$9,000.
The stocky, bespectacled man originally faced nine charges but six of them were taken into consideration.
The other man, 42-year-old Kannusamy Saravanan was jailed for two weeks after pleading guilty to two charges involving S$450.
Kannusamy, who provides remittance services to Indian foreign workers here, gave the bribes to the ex-officer at Farrer Park MRT station on December 2008 and March last year.
The two men could have been jailed up to five years, fined a maximum of S$100,000 or both for each charge.
Their lawyer, Mr Thangavelu told the court that Murgeiyah was the one who solicited the bribes from his clients.
The former Deputy Team Leader has already been dealt with in court on November 18 and was sentenced to 16 months' jail.
He also had to pay a penalty amounting to S$21,650.
-CNA/ac
