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

loloba

Alfrescian
Loyal
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.

This case is fishy,for government project you need to be in certain category depending on the project. Can a new employee set up 7 companies at one go and cheat LTA. Comeon all these companies need to show their financial standing their experience, who are their bosses. Unless they show they have past dealings with LTA so it can not be someone who joined LTA 2007.

They cannot taichi one person . LTA is not a one man show. Can someone joined LTA 2007 and set up 7 companies to cheat 11.8 million.
 

streetsmart73

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous 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.


hi there


1. footie, you must have mistaken leh!
2. there is still no head rolling since the mas selamat case, yog, the flooding etc. probably, some small dickheads not sheep's heads.
3. yes, it is an embarrassment but not a disaster mah!
 

Unrepented

Alfrescian
Loyal
Yes very good point. Is the categorization awarded by BCA? As far as I can remember there are prerequisites to be met in order to qualify for the categorization. But dont know if it applies to a sub contractor to the main contractor:confused:

This case is fishy,for government project you need to be in certain category depending on the project. Can a new employee set up 7 companies at one go and cheat LTA. Comeon all these companies need to show their financial standing their experience, who are their bosses. Unless they show they have past dealings with LTA so it can not be someone who joined LTA 2007.

They cannot taichi one person . LTA is not a one man show. Can someone joined LTA 2007 and set up 7 companies to cheat 11.8 million.
 

soikee

Alfrescian
Loyal
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.






If the PAP is clean, how cum this corrupt fella cud be appointed to the position of a deputy director with just a Poly diploma?





__________________________________________________________________________________________________


Following the sacking of a senior SPH executive last week for receiving illegal payments and misappropriating shopping vouchers, two senior officials of a government-linked agency, Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is under investigation for corruption.

Koh Seah Wee, a deputy director with SLA’s Technology and Infrastructure Department and Christopher Lim Chai Meng, a manager in the same department, are suspected to have conspired to cheat SLA of $11.8 million dollars with bogus
invoices between January 2008 and March 2010.

Lim allegedly set up seven shell companies under his name and bill SLA for non-existent maintenance contracts while Koh approved payments ranging from $25,000 to $60,000 to them.

According to Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao, Koh spent the money on two condominiums, a branded sports car and DBS High notes. A diploma holder from a Singapore polytechnic, Koh joined SLA in 2007 and
began cheating the organization a year later.

SLA and the Ministry of Law told the media in a joint press statement that “SLA had in place finance and procurement processes which were in accordance with Government guidelines”. About $10 million dollars of the loot have been recovered
so far.

The sensational case made the headlines in Singapore which is known for its squeaky clean image. It was ranked as the third least corrupted nation in the world by Transparency International last year.
 

loloba

Alfrescian
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.

How can it be a warning when you look at the case.

At the rate the government losses money within a year

This guy joined LTA 2007 he can manipulate 11.8 millions into his account in less than a year.

By setting up 7 companies, can a Deputy Director with LTA set up companies and award the contract to his companies.

Not sure whether other govt linked companies operate this way.
 

aurvandil

Alfrescian
Loyal
The following is the 3rd high profile case where CPIB failed to act. DBS/OCBC are accused of helping corrupt Burmese generals avoid UN sanctions and launder $5 bil or more.


Burmese generals pocket $5bn from Total oil deal

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...s-pocket-5bn-from-total-oil-deal-1784497.html

The Burmese military junta has earned almost $5bn from a controversial gas pipeline operated by the French oil giant Total and deprived the country of vital income by depositing almost all the money in bank accounts in Singapore, a new report claims.


Campaigners say Total has also profited handsomely from the arrangement, with an estimated income of $483m from the project since 2000. Campaigners say that the windfall from the Yadana pipeline, operated by Total and two other partners, has been so huge that it has done much to insulate the country's military rulers from the impact of international sanctions imposed over its human rights abuses. The report from EarthRights International (ERI), published today, argues that this makes Total and their partners a major factor in reinforcing the regime's intransigence. And it claims that while their people suffer some of the worst standards of living in Asia, with miserable state investment in health, education, infrastructure and everything else that affects the lives of ordinary people, the self-perpetuating military elite has grown obscenely wealthy.

The pipeline in eastern Burma, which carries gas from rich fields in the Andaman Sea through Burma and into Thailand, has long been controversial. Campaigners have regularly claimed that the authorities have used forced labour in the project, security for which is provided by the Burmese armed forces. Last month, Total rejected claims that forced labour was still being used.

Yet the information contained in the report from ERI, a respected Thailand-based group, provides the most detailed insight yet into the vast sums earned by the regime from the pipeline and what happens to that wealth.

In the report, Total Impact, which has taken two years to research, the group says the junta, headed by General Than Shwe, manages to avoid including almost all its dollar gas revenues in the national budget by using an artificially low exchange rate. This way it calculates its revenue as just 6 kyat to the dollar when the real rate is closer to 1,000. According to a confidential IMF report obtained by ERI, the natural gas revenue "contributed less than 1 per cent of total budget revenue in 2007/08, but would have contributed about 57 per cent if valued at the market exchange rate". The report says that at these rates, the regime has listed just $29m of its earnings while around $4.8bn is unaccounted for.

The report says that "reliable sources" have indicated that the Burmese military regime's portion of the Yadana earnings are located in two leading offshore banks in Singapore - the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), which holds the majority of the revenue, and DBS Group. ERI says that OCBC is Singapore's longest established local bank.

"The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the people's revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia," said ERI's Matthew Smith, the report's main author. "The revenue from this pipeline is the regime's lifeline and a critical leverage point that the international community could use to support the people of Burma."

The apparent disregard for its people is a charge that has long been levelled at the Burmese junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council. The group Burma Campaign UK has estimated the regime's spending on health services is the lowest in the world – just 50 pence per person a year – while it spends up to half its budget on the military.

Criticism of the regime increased last year in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis when the authorities were accused of a fatally slow and inadequate response to the storm that left 140,000 people dead. Suspicious of the motives of outside organisations, the authorities resisted granting entry visas to scores of aid workers. US and other foreign vessels carrying badly needed emergency supplies were refused permission to dock.

Yet while the regime appears happy to let its people suffer – Burma today is the poorest country in the region – senior members of the junta enjoy lives of luxury and excess. In November 2006, a rare insight into the extravagance of the regime was provided by a video of the wedding party of Than Shwe's daughter to an army officer. In the video, posted on the internet, copious amounts of champagne was poured while gifts totalling an estimated $50m were handed to the couple. The wedding presents included cars jewellery and houses.

For a regime facing a series of sanctions and widespread pressure to release political prisoners, including the detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, energy deals have become a key bargaining chip in its relations with regional powers such as China and India.

The junior international partners in the Yadana pipeline are Chevron, which is said too have earned $437m from the project, and PTTEP of Thailand, which has earned around $394m. Burma's state-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise is also involved in the operation. Last month The Independent revealed allegations that the Yadana pipeline was still being serviced by forced labour, claims that were denied by Total.

Last night the Burmese Embassy in London failed to respond to questions about the report's allegations. A spokeswoman for Total said it was unable to respond comprehensively to the claims made by ERI as it had not seen the document. Asked about its earning in Burma, the spokeswoman said: "We do not usually comment on our earnings per country. Nevertheless our amount in Myanmar represents 0.7 per cent of the group's results."

She said that in 2008, the group's income was €13.9bn (around $20bn), suggesting Total annually earns $140m from Burma and its controversial pipeline.

A brutal regime: Military rulers who profit

Burma has been under the thumb of the military since 1962, and the current junta has ruled since the late 1980s when it brutally crushed a democracy movement, killing up to 6,000 people.

At the head of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) sits senior leader Than Shwe, a former postal clerk now aged 76. Initially considered something of a moderate, the general has shown himself to be increasingly authoritarian and hostile to negotiations. Located in the remote jungle capital of Naypidaw since late 2005, the SPDC's other senior members include vice chairman Maung Aye, who has a reputation for ruthlessness and xenophobia. Some reports suggest that he and Than Shwe are involved in a power struggle.

Third-in-command in the military structure is Shwe Mann, Joint Chief of Staff and co-ordinator of the special forces. A father of three sons, Shwe Mann became a powerful figure in the regime when he was appointed head of all three services.

Then Sein holds the position of prime minister and is considered to be a strong supporter of Than Shwe. In May 2008, as head of the junta's disaster preparedness committee, he became the point man for relief efforts related to Cyclone Nargis. He was notoriously pictured on the front page of a state-run newspaper handing out television sets when people were desperate for food, water and electricity.

The oil giant: Total's global reach

Total's adventures with the Burmese generals have disturbing parallels with the involvement of another French oil giant, Elf – a company Total swallowed in 2000 – with corrupt military dictators in Africa. It's an inglorious story that ended with one of Europe's biggest corruption trials in 2003 and the conviction of three senior executives at Elf. Soon afterwards the company was absorbed into Total and Elf's African operations were rebranded.

A Paris courtroom heard how the oil riches of West and central Africa from Gabon to Cameroon and Congo to Angola had flowed back and forth between Elf and its client leaders – three of whom are still in power while the third, Omar Bongo, died earlier this year.

In that case, although not in this, the company's senior management were accused of personally profiting from the deals. Elf's former chairman, Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, received a five-year jail sentence in 2003, as did the former director Alfred Sirven, while the company's "Mr Africa", Andre Tarallo, was jailed for four years and fined €2m (£1.75m).

The court heard how huge sums were paid – more than €16m annually to President Bongo – to ensure these leaders stayed loyal to Elf. The defendants maintained that French leaders and parties received similar sums to ensure no one interfered with the arrangement.

In Gabon, that meant Elf could act as a "state within a state", while the sweeteners ensured that France's military and espionage operations operated with impunity.

Today, Total is investing nearly $5bn (£3bn) in its Africa operations and is doing business with the same stalwarts from the Elf years: Paul Biya in Cameroon, Denis Sassou Nguesso in Congo-Brazzaville, and José Eduardo dos Santos in Angola. What these countries have in common are sham elections, broken constitutions, rampant corruption and mass poverty.
 

johnny333

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Surely this is just an isolated case.

Singapore is no. 1 in Asia when it comes to being largely corrupt-free.

We must nip it in the bud to preserve the proud ranking.

A further pay adjustment (on the upside) for the top civil servants should prevent such fraud cases in the future. Agree?



How does the public know this is am isolated case :confused:

Just have to look at the billions of tax money lost by Temasek. Maybe some of it got pocketed by greedy people.

Without an independant watchdog we may never know.
 

aurvandil

Alfrescian
Loyal
How does the public know this is am isolated case :confused:

It is definitely not an isolated case. I have provided links to 3 large corruption cases which CPIB refused to investigate. The 3 large cases have been in the public domain for a long time. The evidence gathered in these cases is fairly comprehensive.

The current environment in Singapore is very conduisive to corruption. This is because the PAP has cultivated an image that corruption does not exist in Singapore. Any critic or whistle blower who suggests otherwise is threatened into silence via a defamation suit. Hence unless the evidence is overwhelming as in the 3 cases I have posted, most instances of corruption go unreported. This is especially when people see that when well connected, influential people are involved, CPID can "act blur" and refuse to do anything.
 

moolightaffairs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
we need him!!!!

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開封有個包青天,鐵面無私辨忠奸!!! :biggrin:
 

Papsmearer

Alfrescian (InfP) - Comp
Generous 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.

Are u comparing Justice Bao to Old Goat? Don't insult Justice Bao ok?
 

Papsmearer

Alfrescian (InfP) - Comp
Generous Asset
It is definitely not an isolated case. I have provided links to 3 large corruption cases which CPIB refused to investigate. The 3 large cases have been in the public domain for a long time. The evidence gathered in these cases is fairly comprehensive.

The current environment in Singapore is very conduisive to corruption. This is because the PAP has cultivated an image that corruption does not exist in Singapore. Any critic or whistle blower who suggests otherwise is threatened into silence via a defamation suit. Hence unless the evidence is overwhelming as in the 3 cases I have posted, most instances of corruption go unreported. This is especially when people see that when well connected, influential people are involved, CPID can "act blur" and refuse to do anything.

Aiyah, no need to cut and paste all these long stories. Just ask about the condo discount case in the 80s and u can see this whole corruption thing stretches back much further.
 

NoNewsGood

Alfrescian
Loyal
How can it be a warning when you look at the case.

At the rate the government losses money within a year

This guy joined LTA 2007 he can manipulate 11.8 millions into his account in less than a year.

By setting up 7 companies, can a Deputy Director with LTA set up companies and award the contract to his companies.

Not sure whether other govt linked companies operate this way.

LTA or SLA? One deals with roads, the other deals with the land next to the roads.

Yes, it really raises more questions. Like $12 million in less than 2 years? That worked out to be more than $500K per month. Seriously, I doubt SLA or any stat board has that kind of IT budget.
 

aurvandil

Alfrescian
Loyal
Yes, it really raises more questions. Like $12 million in less than 2 years? That worked out to be more than $500K per month. Seriously, I doubt SLA or any stat board has that kind of IT budget.

That's very sharp. You are 100% right that Sg govt departments don't have such a large IT budget that there is fat for $6 mil per FY for non-existent IT projects.

To pull something like this off, you need to have had co-operation from someone must higher up who would arrange for the fat in the IT budget so that it can be skimmed off.

Also every project needs to have a project owner. It is impossible to visualise that that project owner would have signed off on so much non-exisitent projects and not know something was amiss.

Also suspicioius are his poly qualifications which would have precluded him from holding a DD position. In most govt agencies, you would need to have a minimum of a 2nd upper from NUS/NTU before you can get the position. If you have just a basic merit degree, you won't even get anywhere close.

For reasons unknown, they are trying to protect and hide somebody further up the food chain in SLA. This person seems to have had the power to bend IM so that his/her man could be put into the correct position. He/she then arranged for sufficent fat in the annual budget so that it could be skimmed off.

Who do you think in SLA has this kind of power?
 

ChaoPappyPoodle

Alfrescian
Loyal
IT projects do reach this kind of amounts and even higher even if you don't add in hardware costs. I think a few people must have been suspicious but due to this guy's connections, they probably thought it better to leave things as they are.

What is baffling is that these contracts must have been tenders through GeBiz and no one there seems to have seen any anomaly in terms of the frequency of the tenders called from the same entity and the same person in-charge.

It's still too early to say how things went. In fact, this is probably going to be a state secret. :biggrin:

It's also strange that a poly diploma graduate can reach such a high status in the civil service especially when you think of how highly the PAPies look up to paper qualifications and all the scholars they have.
 

aurvandil

Alfrescian
Loyal
IT projects do reach this kind of amounts and even higher even if you don't add in hardware costs.

$6 mil per FY for IT projects which lots of people use is plausible.

$6 mil per FT for non existent projects which no one touch see or feel is frankly impossible without the assistance of someone very high up in the SLA food chain.
 

loloba

Alfrescian
Loyal
$6 mil per FY for IT projects which lots of people use is plausible.

$6 mil per FT for non existent projects which no one touch see or feel is frankly impossible without the assistance of someone very high up in the SLA food chain.

I understand that TT Durai also spent alot of money on IT. Guess this the only item you can cheat and nobody will question.

SYOG also spent 97 million on IT and our Minister had to say sorry for silly mistake.
 
R

redlightmeansgo

Guest
In a sense you are correct but i would interpret that changing the government will expose the corruption of the previous government.

According to the news (if you believe the grapevine) the ass was unearthed only after he left office.

Similarly, you need change to eradicate the rot that has eaten its way to the core
 

ChaoPappyPoodle

Alfrescian
Loyal
$6 mil per FY for IT projects which lots of people use is plausible.

$6 mil per FT for non existent projects which no one touch see or feel is frankly impossible without the assistance of someone very high up in the SLA food chain.

Bro, you don't understand how shambolic the internal systems are at these places. Within each ministry there are quite a number of people who have access to the means with which to put out tenders on GeBiz.

Not only does this case show that a lot of money can be paid out to undelivered services or products but it should also highlight that a lot of money can be paid for inferior services and goods.

The entire system is pathetic and seems to be an open invitation to commit CBT and corruption if one had such an inkling.

I doubt that there was someone higher involved. It is simply the case of poorly designed tender, appraisal, purchasing, approval, delivery and post-delivery processes, from top to bottom, across almost all the ministries. All those scholars and million dollar civil servants have been there for ages and yet not one of them has the intelligence or gumption to set things right after all these years.

It is really pathetic. It is perhaps indeed true that since it's not their money and they are paid so well, why rock the boat?
 
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