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Major Graft Scandal Ministry of Law SLA, Durai & Teh Chiang Wan are tiny

aurvandil

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However it must noted that the people who are exposed are small fry - TT Durai, this deputy director, etc. Insignificant compared to the days when the Prime Minister was Lee Kuan Yew. Proponents may argue that Ministers today are not of the Teh variety - that the high salaries give them less incentives to enter into corruption. Does that mean therefore that deputy directors' salaries will now be increased?

The PAP has clearly forgotten the lesson on how corruption brought down the Lim Yew Hock government. These days, CPIB seems to be very lax and complacent. There are at least 3 high profile corruption cases with compelling evidence that CPIB has failed to investigate. I will post these up over the nexct day or so. The first involves the the trade of sand smuggling into Singapore. Critical questions after reading the article

1) What are the companies Singapore is buying sand from?
2) Who owns these companies?
3) Why is CPIB not investigating these companies?

---

The Sand Smugglers

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...glers?page=0,0

Singapore's business-friendly climate has seen the country grow by leaps and bounds -- literally. But it's all based on a murky, billion-dollar illegal trade in sand.

The causeway linking Singapore to the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula is normally clogged with cars and trucks making the short international journey, but things got particularly bad on Feb. 1, when traffic came to a grinding halt. Thirty-seven trucks were abandoned where they stood on the Malaysian side, just yards away from a customs checkpoint, their drivers having simply walked away. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that they were carrying an illegal substance -- but not drugs, illegal migrants, or precious jewels. They were carrying sand.

Singapore's economy quite literally rests upon maintaining a huge and continuous supply of sand -- and smuggling has become a multibillion-dollar trade, driving a huge web of corruption and theft in a country renowned for honest business practices and corporal punishment.

The tiny island nation, one of the 20 smallest states in the world, has enjoyed a phenomenal economic boom since the 1980s. In the space of only 30 years its population has doubled and its GDP has exploded by more than 1,000 percent (making it now the wealthiest country in Asia). Singapore's economic success is largely based upon the phenomenal growth in its services industry. The country has taken advantage of two factors: its ability to process silicon for use in microchips and electronics, and its positioning as a regional business hub within Asia, connecting industrial leaders and business executives from across the continent.

But the boom times have come at a cost. The country has, quite literally, run out of space. Since Singapore's independence in the 1960s, its land area has grown from 581.5 to 710 square kilometers. By 2030, the country plans to expand by another 70 square kilometers. That would see Singapore's land area grow 30 percent from its original size, giving it the same area as New York City.

This added girth requires dumping a mind-boggling quantity of sand into the ocean, in what is known as land reclamation projects. To reclaim 1 square kilometer of land from the sea, up to 37.5 million cubic meters of sand are needed -- the equivalent of filling three and a half Empire State Buildings. Singapore's main airport is built almost entirely on reclaimed land, and one of the largest recent projects is the aptly named Marina Bay Sands project, a five-star hotel and casino on Singapore's shoreline whose major investors include the owners of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.

There are two types of sand generally used for land reclamation projects: sea sand, which is dumped into the ocean as filler, and river sand, which has a far finer granularity and is a central ingredient in concrete, which Singapore uses in vast quantities to fuel its monumental building program.

Although Singapore is itself an island nation, it ran out of its own sand many decades ago. Today the entire island consists of urban areas or protected-environment sanctuaries. This shortage has fueled a massive industry, worth at least $1 billion between 1998 and 2008. And it's only growing: In 2008 alone, according to its own figures, Singapore imported more than $273 million worth of sand, more than any other country in the world. But these numbers -- which account for only the legal trade in sand -- are only the tip of the iceberg.

This insatiable need for sand has created a slew of problems not often associated with this by-the-book country, which is rated by Transparency International as the third-least corrupt country in the world, behind only Denmark and New Zealand. In recent months, however, a number of illegal sand excavation activities have been traced back to Singaporean companies. Whether this smuggled sand entered Singapore through government collusion or willful ignorance is hard to ascertain, but questions are increasingly being asked about how much officials really know about the quantity and provenance of sand imports.

Until recently, the vast majority of it has come from right next door: Malaysia, which lies less than half a mile away across the Singapore Strait. And that's odd, as Malaysia has had a blanket ban on the export of river and sea sand for more than 10 years, since it discovered that materials for its own land reclamation projects were being illegally diverted to Singapore.

There are no hard figures regarding the extent of the illegal trade between Malaysia and Singapore. The best official figures available come from the United Nations' Comtrade database, which lists countries' declared trade figures for a variety of commodities. But even a cursory comparison of its data shows that something is drastically amiss. For example, in 2008, Singapore declared it had imported only 3 million tons of sand from Malaysia -- yet Malaysia's figures show that a staggering 133 million tons of sand were reportedly exported to Singapore despite the 10-year blanket ban.

It's hard to say whether either figure is accurate, but it's clear that vast quantities of Malaysian sand are being smuggled into Singapore. A recent report by the Malaysian civil servants union estimates that 41 percent of Malaysia's officials are involved in some form of corruption. Mohamad Khir Toyo, the former governor of Malaysia's most prosperous state, Selangor, has even insinuated that his successor is allowing the illegal trade to continue unhindered. "Sand is being stolen every day, and not a single lorry has been seized and no one has been charged," he said in May. "I suspect certain leaders from a certain party … are protecting the culprits."

In June, an investigation by the Malaysian newspaper the Star blew the lid off the sand smuggling trade. The paper's reporters followed a Malaysian dredging company working on the Johor River, about 50 miles inland from the Singapore Strait. The company had won a transport license by claiming it was shipping extracted sand internally, to the Malaysian ports of Tanjung Pelepas or Danga Bay. The shortest route to the destination, however, took ships through Singaporean waters. Once the sand was extracted, the barges sailed downriver to the Malaysia-Singapore border and passed through customs. The barges never made it to the claimed destination -- they simply stopped at the Singaporean jetty of Pulau Punggol Timur, presented freshly forged paperwork, and unloaded their cargo.

The newspaper estimates that around 3 million cubic meters of river sand have followed this route since 2007, making smugglers a cool profit of $77.8 million. Understandably, the Malaysian government is not pleased, having been deprived of $11.5 million in tax revenues. But the million-dollar question is how such massive shipments are able to reach Singapore without anyone being the wiser. For its part, the Singaporean government flatly denies that it condones the import of illegal sand.

"The documentation that sand suppliers are required to show include licenses to dredge or extract sand at specific sand locations in the source countries, draft survey reports, and bill of loadings," K. Senbagavalli, a spokeswoman at the Singaporean Ministry of National Development, said in an interview. "[We verify with] sand concession holders of source countries regularly that the documentation provided by the sand suppliers is authentic and accurate.... To date, the sand vendors have all been able to provide valid documented evidences of clearance from the source countries."

But this oversight depends on reliable paperwork -- and reliable officials -- throughout the supply chain. If corruption is as rife as it appears to be within Malaysia, the documents are not worth the paper they're printed on.

Although the black market Malaysian trade appears to be thriving, Singapore's addiction requires far more sand than one country can provide. And Indonesia, a vast and sprawling archipelago of more than 17,000 islands (the nearest of which to Singapore lies about six miles to the southeast), has jumped headlong into the breach. Many of Indonesia's islands that lie within easy reach of Singapore have few or no inhabitants -- and Singapore has taken advantage of this geography, going so far as to wipe some places entirely off the map.

Rapacious exploitation, which saw up to 77 percent of the world's sand dredgers operating in seas between Indonesia and Singapore, soon took its toll. By 1999, some islands had been mined so extensively that plans were being drawn up for sea walls to protect inland citizens from rapid erosion and rising seas. In 2003, Nipah island, which lies on the Singapore-Indonesia border, disappeared completely under the waves, "with only 3 to 4 palms trees visible to mark the island's location," according to the local NGO Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia.

Indonesia's export figures show that, in the five years before 2002, it shipped at least 150 million tons of sea sand to Singapore in total. But the black market probably accounts for at least double this figure: In 2003, smugglers excavated and shipped an estimated 300 million cubic meters of sand, worth $2.5 billion. In 2007, following Malaysia's lead, the Indonesian parliament issued a blanket ban on sea sand exports. It was completely ignored, even by the Indonesian government. Over the past five years, a further 24 islands are believed to have disappeared under the waves. Even if officials were serious about stamping out the trade, it's simply too easy to steal sand from Indonesia's thousands of miles of unguarded coastlines. All any would-be thief has to do is pick a remote spot where large and loud dredging equipment won't be easily spotted and work quickly under the cover of darkness. They can return to Singapore safely within a matter of hours and, using forged documents, unload the cargo.

And yet Singaporean officials still profess ignorance. Beyond the enormous variance in official import-export figures, there's simply no getting around the fact that Singapore's land mass has grown by leaps and bounds -- so the landfill is certainly coming from somewhere. Thus far, they've managed to escape the repercussions for a willing complicity in this trade by feigning surprise at bogus paperwork. For the time being, the trade is making all players happy and rich.

Singapore is poised for a bright future: It is booming economically and has positioned itself as a world leader in urban sustainability. But to fulfill that promise, however, it must first swallow an unpalatable truth -- that its prosperity has come at the cost of it neighbors' corruption and environmental destruction. Size isn't everything; the country's sterling reputation is now at stake.
 

Queen Seok Duk

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A 'father' who is a respected member of the community, an upright man, have ten sons, two of his 'son's committed serious crimes, of course the 'father' is still respected & upright.

But, what about his REPUTATION?, the 'white shirt' now has two ink spots.:biggrin: worse, despite being respected & upright, was an arrogant, pompous..b@##@#rd...

When Justice Bao executed his nephew, who happened to be his auntie's only son, his reputation was untainted. In fact, had he not dished out equal punishment to his nephew, his reputation would have gone into the drain.
 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
When Justice Bao executed his nephew, who happened to be his auntie's only son, his reputation was untainted. In fact, had he not dished out equal punishment to his nephew, his reputation would have gone into the drain.

That was the lengendary Justice Bao...but these are the modern day, 'xiao lung bao'...different you know!!
 

Internet Brigade

Alfrescian
Loyal
The fact that it is exposed instead of covered up, should be LOOKED UPON positively on LEEgime, that is the ONLY way to motivate them to clean up.

Yes. We must give credit where credit is due. They could have buried this story and waited for all the money to be recovered.

But this case is a warning to all in the service that more eyes will be watching and favoritism in the tender process will not be tolerated.
 

streetsmart73

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Got.. a few croonies gather around the table at TC meeings and decide who should get the cut this time.[/QUOT



hi there


1. right sheep is friend, left sheep is another friend.
2. all are friends mah! you scratch my back, i scratch yours.
3. it is no disaster, all in one familee.
4. where got corruption one?
 

silverfox@

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Loyal
Once again, u have missed the point. Changing the govt. does not remove corruption, its human nature, it will happen again. Changing the govt. will enable corruption to be exposed easier via a free press, indepedent CPIB, independent judiciary, etc. I am surprised u don't understand this.

I understand your latter part. Example of Taiwan.

However, I am referring to Uncle Yap's uphold of the clean system which even changing the govt with a new one will not remove corruption. I think this part you agree with me too:p

The solution is how to remove or prevent corruption? Bringing corruption to its lowest.
 

silverfox@

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This kind of cases is not easy to detect right away as its not embezzlement. They actually set up few firms to tender for the projects, so money can be awarded to them. In fact such practise is not uncommon in the corporate world as well.

If he wasn't flashy, he could have gone undetected for another few years at least till someone takes over his position and bother digging up these stuff.
 

myfoot123

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Shanmugan's head should roll since it happened right under his nose, his law ministry, because SLA is under him!!! I wonder what has he got to say about his corporate governance.
 

saratogas

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Loyal
Deputy Director of SLA earns around $8k per month... Salary too low that's why he eat $$$.

From now on, I will see all civil servant what a different view, especially those that drive flashy cars and stay in big house!
 

Internet Brigade

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Loyal
I understand your latter part. Example of Taiwan.

However, I am referring to Uncle Yap's uphold of the clean system which even changing the govt with a new one will not remove corruption. I think this part you agree with me too:p

The solution is how to remove or prevent corruption? Bringing corruption to its lowest.

Let us not conveniently forget that Chee Soon Juan misappropriated university facilities for his wife's benefit. Its not a new Lamborghini but its a stain to ones character nonetheless. So does the SDP have any moral authority to talk about clean systems?
 

Kid278

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If PAP wants to cover up, this piece of news will never see the daylight.

PAP is clean, that is why they're not afraid to be embarrassed.

Such scandal are liabilities to their reputation, if possible they wouldnt have let it go public. The MSM is their mouthpiece, they will have things managed and not let it blown out of proportion.
 

Spock

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When Justice Bao executed his nephew, who happened to be his auntie's only son, his reputation was untainted. In fact, had he not dished out equal punishment to his nephew, his reputation would have gone into the drain.

Justice Bao did not set up the government system. He was merely a judge in the system. Certainly, the incident does not reflect on any individual PAP member but it reflects on the party as a whole because PAP=government in SG.

I believe there are sufficient checks and controls currently in place for low-level staff but who or what is there to check on the highest office holders? When the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will follow suit. In an open country, the media gets rewarded for sniffing out and publicising scandals of any sort. They get more eyeballs and advertisers want to pay for those eyeballs. How about the media in SG? They are there to serve the purpose of nation-building?
 

aurvandil

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The following is the second high profile case which CPIB has mysteriously failed to investigate and prosecute.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-n...by-MoD/560858/

New Delhi The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has finally dispatched a confidential report to the Ministry of Defence listing the status of its probe against the seven firms blacklisted for procurements following the May 2009 Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) scam.
The report, sent by CBI Director Ashwani Kumar to Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar last month, reveals that the very firms cleared earlier this week by the MoD for field trials are the ones against whom the agency has admitted to having proof of payment of bribes to former OFB Chairman Sudipta Ghosh.

Of the seven blacklisted firms, the CBI has informed the MoD about payment of bribes being confirmed against four companies. The agency has stated that no proof of bribes being paid have emerged against the remaining three, as yet.

The two major players indicted by the CBI are Singapore Technologies-Kinetics and Israeli Military Industries —both of which have now been cleared for field trials in multi-vendor deals.

Top sources in the Ministry of Defence informed The Indian Express that the written opinion of the government’s seniormost law officer, Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati, was sought before the go-ahead was given for field trials for blacklisted firms, pending the CBI inquiry against them.

The Attorney General is understood to have opined that it would be in public interest if field trials and evaluations could proceed, but no contracts should be finalised till the CBI concluded its probe. The CBI’s status report — dispatched weeks before the announcement of field trials being cleared — is thus important. The CBI has informed the MoD that the current status of the blacklisted firms is as follows:

• Singapore Technologies-Kinetics: Sudipta Ghosh received kickbacks from the firm for the OFB contract for joint manufacture of a 5.56 mm carbine to be procured by the Home Ministry for use of paramilitary forces.

• Israeli Military Industries: Bribes were paid by IMI to Ghosh through his relative, Ashish Bose, when the company received the advance payment of Rs 149.50 crore for the project for manufacture of 155mm Bi-modular charge systems (BMCS’s).

• T S Kishan and Co : This Delhi-based company paid bribes to Ghosh, again through Bose, when they received an order for Rs 19.49 crore for execution in the Ordnance factory in Chanda.

• R K Machine Tools: The company was approached by Bose on behalf of the OFB Chairman when they bagged a Rs 11.58 crore order for the Chanda factory, but there is no proof of the bribes being paid.

• Bipromasz Bipron Trading SA: The CBI has stated that they as yet have “nothing on record” to prove that bribes were paid by the company to the ex-OFB Chairman though their technical bid for a OFB contract was seized during searches in Bose’s house.

• HYT Innovative projects Pvt Ltd: The proprietor of the Pune-based firm, Bhojraj Hemraj Teli is understood to be the one who introduced Ramesh Nambiar (Air India employee, arrested after the scam) to Ashish Bose and the company bagged the contract for manufacture of tubes for Pinaka rockets. The CBI has evidence of Ghosh demanding bribes for the contract, but Teli apparently did not pay up.

• Rheinmetall Air Defence, Zurich: This is the only company for whom the CBI has quantified the bribes paid for the OFB contract it received for manufacture of revolvers. The firm, which was earlier known as Oerlikon Contraves AG (OCAG) paid Rs 17.50 lakh as bribe to Ghosh through their agent M S Sahini for a collaboration for upgrading L-70 40 mm anti-aircraft guns with the OFB

THE ORDNANCE BOARD SCAM

The CBI arrested Sudipta Ghosh, the former Director General of the Kolkata-based Ordnance Factory Board and three of his alleged accomplices on May 19, 2009 and recovered cash and foreign depository receipts worth Rs 2 crore. A case was registered under Section 120 (B) and other sections of the Cr PC against Ghosh for entering into a criminal conspiracy with the object of demanding and obtaining huge illegal gratification in supply orders and transfers/postings during his stint as OFB head.
 

ChaoPappyPoodle

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Loyal
Yes. We must give credit where credit is due. They could have buried this story and waited for all the money to be recovered.

But this case is a warning to all in the service that more eyes will be watching and favoritism in the tender process will not be tolerated.

This case clearly shows the lackadaisical manner with which the PAP regime treats corruption and CBT within the government of Singapore. And let's not allow the PAPies to hoodwink us and even themselves, this is a case of CBT and not corruption.

If the PAP regime was truly intent on countering and preventing corruption and CBT, then they would make it a legal requirement for all politicians in office and civil servants to declare their assets.

What the PAPies have done is to only have civil servants declare if they have debts. WTF! What a pathetic attempt this is at preventing corruption. This goes to show that the PAP is not serious in preventing nor countering corruption and CBT within the government and the regime.

This case clearly shows that one need not be in debt to be in a position to commit CBT or be a party to corruption.

To all PAP supporters, where is your intelligence? We know about your conscience but does your intelligence tell you that what has been done for over 50 years to prevent and counter CBT and corruption is sufficient?
 

ChaoPappyPoodle

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Loyal
Yes. CPIB is the correct authority to approach as they are independent (under PMO).

You can make a tipoff here: http://app.cpib.gov.sg/cpib_new/user/default.aspx?pgId=216

Stop lying to the people! You immoral creep! How can the CPIB be independent if it is under the PMO?

This very minister was the subject of investigation for receiving gifts in the form of discounts. In any other democratic country, LHL would have been thrown into the political garbage bin for such an act.
 

Unrepented

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Loyal
:biggrin: I received a call on my handphone on a sunday afternoon from a guy who claim he is from HDB, to remind me to participate in voting for lift upgrading.

Since I dont stay at that residence, I have received the like twice on my handphone. I was tempted to ask him if he is the potential contractor for the lift upgrading or some por lumpar grasslooters or both:rolleyes:

I think the tender process must be even more rigorous. The companies winning the bid must disclose any relationship to civil servants, whether the civil servants are shareholders, of if the principals of the winning companies are related to any individuals from the ministry tendering for the bid.
 
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