Sep 29, 2010
Ex-CEO pleads guilty to bribery
By Khushwant Singh
Ang Seng Thor of listed AEM-Evertech Holdings was convicted of bribing a Seagate employee and a director of a Malaysian company. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
FORMER chief executive Ang Seng Thor of listed AEM-Evertech Holdings was convicted on Wednesday of bribing a Seagate employee and a director of a Malaysian company. Ang, 46, will be sentenced on Oct 11. Arguing against a jail term, defence counsel Wendell Wong said that a fine would be sufficient punishment as Ang committed the 'ultimate act of self sacrifice' by blowing the whistle about the corrupt acts.
'He knew that by coming forward, he too could be criminally prosecuted but he wanted to do the right thing,' said Mr Wong. Although agreeing that Ang was vital in exposing the offences, Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan said: 'We are not asking for a deterrent sentence but an appropriate punishment of more than a fine.' Earlier, District Judge John Ng heard that Ang was also the joint managing director with Tok Kian You, who was the chairman of AEM-Evertech.
The firm supplied precision tools and other equipment to semi-conductor manufacturers. Ang wrote letters to the board of directors in 2005 to expose several acts of bribery by Mr Tok and other AEM employees. He also informed another company of the bribes paid by AEM to one of its staff members and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Department was alerted.
Investigations implicated Ang and he pleaded guilty to bribing Mr Tan Gek Chuan, a director of the Malaysian company Infineon Technologies in early 2004 with $50,000 so as to sell the firm four inspection machines with a total value of $1 million. Then in March 2005, he passed $98,160 to assistant engineer Ho Sze Khee of Seagate Technology International, who is said to have demanded a 15 per cent kickback on every order from Seagate.
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