Ex-Diethelm executive jailed for receving bribes

AsiaOne
Monday, Sep 03, 2012
SINGAPORE - A 64-year-old former executive of Diethelm Singapore received a two month jail sentence on Monday for receiving $67,000 in bribes.
The district court also ordered him to pay a penalty of the same amount he corruptly received from Applied Forwarding from April 2008 to September 2009, reported The Straits Times.
Alex Chee Eng Huat, now unemployed, pleaded guilty to accepting money from a director of Applied, Mr Viswamoorthy Ramanathan, 49. This is in exchange for a two-year contract from Diethelm for warehousing and shipping services to Applied.
Chee had joined Diethelm Singapore in 1979 and was promoted to head of logistics in 2005.
Sums ranging from $4,000 to $10,000 were placed in envelopes, and changed hands either in Diethelm's office in Pasir Panjang or at Applied's warehouse in Senoko.
Defence counsel Cheong Aik Chye said that since his client was a first offender and had to care for his cancer-stricken wife, a stiff fine would be appropriate punishment.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Christine Liu argued for a jail term as the total value of bribes were large and that the corruption was over an extended period of time.
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