Senior technical officer 'helped give business to contractor in return'

[Medusa]

May 4, 2011

IN THE ST NEWSPAPER TODAY

NEA man accused of taking $129k bribes

Senior technical officer 'helped give business to contractor in return'

By Khushwant Singh

Oh (above) claims the money was for bets he and Mr Tan made. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

A SENIOR technical officer with the National Environment Agency (NEA) is on trial for allegedly accepting a total of $128,980 from a contractor to give him business.

Oh Hian Kee, 47, is accused of pocketing bribes of $3,000 to $30,000 from Mr Tan Boon Gee, a director of Mincon Engineering, between May 2006 and August last year.

The prosecution alleges that Oh took the bribes in return for recommending Mincon to be awarded contracts at Tuas South Incineration Plant, where he was attached.

Oh, represented by Mr K. Jayakumar Naidu, is saying that the money was for football bets that the duo had wagered on.

At the start of the trial on Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kwek Chin Yong said Oh was attached to the Mechanical Maintenance Unit (MMU) of the incineration plant at that time.

As one of the two team leaders at MMU, his duties included planning the schedule for the overhauling of cranes, calling for quotations for repairs and procurement of equipment.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.
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