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Lamborghini-driving Singapore civil servant accused of fraud
Wed, Sep 29, 2010
AFP
Former deputy director Koh Seah Wee is linked to more than 240 cases of cheating involving $11.8 million.
Ho Yen Teck, 31, helped to set up at least seven shell companies for the duo to amass their illegal gains.
SINGAPORE - A senior civil servant with a penchant for Italian supercars has been arrested for defrauding the government of about $12 million, officials said.
It is reportedly the worst case of corruption in the city-state, which has a reputation for clean government, in 15 years.
Koh Seah Wee, 40, deputy director at the information technology department of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), allegedly raised fake invoices for non-existent projects and pocketed the money.
Assets including a Lamborghini and a Ferrari, along with cash, have been recovered from Koh and a colleague, 37-year-old Christopher Lim Chai Meng, who is also under investigation.
Koh, who was charged in court Tuesday with 249 counts of cheating and other offences, has been in police custody since June, when his alleged crimes were uncovered by the SLA.
He was unable to raise the bail amount of $1.5 million.
The Straits Times newspaper said it was the biggest criminal case involving public servants in Singapore since 1995.
According to the newspaper, Koh paid $1.55 million for a Lamborghini sports car in April after having earlier splurged on two Mercedes-Benz cars in March.
Last year he paid $900,000 in cash for an apartment and invested $1 million dollars in shares and other financial products, the newspaper reported, citing court documents.
The two men "are believed to have rendered false invoices through various business entities, for fictitious IT maintenance services and goods which were not delivered," the SLA and Ministry of Law said in a joint statement seen Wednesday on the ministry's website.
"The two officers are suspected of conspiring with each other and with the said business entities, thus enabling them to circumvent the checks and balances in the processes."
Large-scale graft cases are rare in Singapore, which enjoys a reputation for being the least corrupt country in Asia and pays its civil servants some of the highest government salaries in the world.
If convicted of cheating, Koh faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and fines on each count.
For concealing criminal proceeds, he could be jailed for up to seven years and fined a maximum $550,000 for each charge.
The SLA, an agency under the Ministry of Law, is responsible for the management of state land and buildings, land sales, leases, acquisitions and allocations.
A $300,000 Mercedes- Benz E350 coupe was registered to his wife, Madam Yeing Nyok Sea, 38.
Wed, Sep 29, 2010
AFP
Former deputy director Koh Seah Wee is linked to more than 240 cases of cheating involving $11.8 million.
Ho Yen Teck, 31, helped to set up at least seven shell companies for the duo to amass their illegal gains.
SINGAPORE - A senior civil servant with a penchant for Italian supercars has been arrested for defrauding the government of about $12 million, officials said.
It is reportedly the worst case of corruption in the city-state, which has a reputation for clean government, in 15 years.
Koh Seah Wee, 40, deputy director at the information technology department of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), allegedly raised fake invoices for non-existent projects and pocketed the money.
Assets including a Lamborghini and a Ferrari, along with cash, have been recovered from Koh and a colleague, 37-year-old Christopher Lim Chai Meng, who is also under investigation.
Koh, who was charged in court Tuesday with 249 counts of cheating and other offences, has been in police custody since June, when his alleged crimes were uncovered by the SLA.
He was unable to raise the bail amount of $1.5 million.
The Straits Times newspaper said it was the biggest criminal case involving public servants in Singapore since 1995.
According to the newspaper, Koh paid $1.55 million for a Lamborghini sports car in April after having earlier splurged on two Mercedes-Benz cars in March.
Last year he paid $900,000 in cash for an apartment and invested $1 million dollars in shares and other financial products, the newspaper reported, citing court documents.
The two men "are believed to have rendered false invoices through various business entities, for fictitious IT maintenance services and goods which were not delivered," the SLA and Ministry of Law said in a joint statement seen Wednesday on the ministry's website.
"The two officers are suspected of conspiring with each other and with the said business entities, thus enabling them to circumvent the checks and balances in the processes."
Large-scale graft cases are rare in Singapore, which enjoys a reputation for being the least corrupt country in Asia and pays its civil servants some of the highest government salaries in the world.
If convicted of cheating, Koh faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and fines on each count.
For concealing criminal proceeds, he could be jailed for up to seven years and fined a maximum $550,000 for each charge.
The SLA, an agency under the Ministry of Law, is responsible for the management of state land and buildings, land sales, leases, acquisitions and allocations.
A $300,000 Mercedes- Benz E350 coupe was registered to his wife, Madam Yeing Nyok Sea, 38.
