Company COO jailed over bribes to NLB assistant director who asked for ‘sponsorship’

SINGAPORE: Fearing that his company’s business might be jeopardised, a chief operating officer (COO) agreed to give bribes to a National Library Board (NLB) assistant director.

Tan Lai Heng, then the COO of Broadcast Engineering Services (BES), was jailed for six months and two weeks on Friday (Jul 26) after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiring with Francis Lim Boon Hor and Lien Hoi Choon to bribe Adrian Chan Siew Leng.

Chan is a former assistant director at NLB who was deployed to the National Archives of Singapore.

These two charges involve S$60,000 (US$44,650) in bribes, given over two occasions. Another similar charge was taken into consideration for sentencing. 

Of the four accused, Tan is the first to have his case heard by the court. Chan, 49, and Lim, 50, are expected to plead guilty on Aug 6, while 68-year-old Lien’s case is pending. 

Tan, 64, became a director of BES on Nov 30, 2017, after the company’s founders approached him and Lien to take over their roles. 

Tan became COO by April 2018, while Lien was the Chief Financial Officer. Both discussed and decided major company matters together. At the time, Lim was a sales director reporting to Tan. He became a director of BES on Jan 16, 2019. 

On Oct 24, 2017, NLB called a tender for a project to enhance the audio and visual infrastructure and systems of the National Archives of Singapore. Chan was the project manager and a member of the tender evaluation committee.

On Feb 2, 2018, NLB awarded the project to BES, with the award valued at around S$8 million before Goods and Services Tax (GST).  

After the project was awarded to BES, Chan approached Lim in April 2018 and asked if BES was open to sponsoring or giving him a scholarship for his Master’s programme. 

Lim told Tan about the request. Tan had formed the impression that Chan was quite influential in NLB and did not want to risk offending him and jeopardising BES’ business, as the project was one of the largest awarded to BES.

He also considered that BES would want to continue securing projects with NLB. 

“The accused also thought that (Chan) might be able to negatively influence and jeopardise the (project) such that it would harm BES. He thus agreed to the request,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei.

Lien also agreed to the request. Lien suggested that Tan draw money from BES to pay Chan, using invoices purportedly issued to BES by overseas vendors to conceal the transaction. 

Around Apr 3, 2019, Chan approached Lim for money again. The trio agreed to pay Chan S$30,000, drawn from BES’ bank account. 

In mid-2018, NLB began preparations for a tender for the supply of archival equipment, services, and furnishings for archive laboratories at the National Archives of Singapore. 

The project manager handling the tender was Chan’s subordinate. Due to the bribes he received from Lim, Chan advised the subordinate to obtain budgetary quotations from BES in her preparations for the tender and she did so in June and September 2018. 

When the tender was eventually called on Jan 10, 2019, Chan was a member of the tender evaluation committee. The committee recommended that BES be awarded the tender.

The tender was awarded to BES for S$3,171,170 on Jun 17, 2019. 

Tan’s lawyers Tang Shangwei and Dorcas Ong from Wong Partnership asked for a jail term of three months. 

The lawyers argued that, unlike most corruption cases, Tan was not motivated by greed. 

“He had acted out of fear that any refusal to pay the (money) would potentially jeopardise BES’ business,” the lawyers said. “This has been the accused’s consistent position from the very first day since investigations commenced.”

Addressing the court, Mr Tang also pointed out that the extent of harm was “slight” as there was no actual loss caused to NLB and little benefit to Tan or BES. 

He added that no third party had suffered any loss, nor was there “public disquiet” arising from the offence.

Mr Tang also sought a sentencing discount due to the delay in investigations. 

Investigations started around June 2020, during which Tan had already come clean with his involvement. He gave a final statement around November 2020. 

“A total of four years have passed since the accused gave his first statement and the very real prospect of being imprisoned has been hanging over his head throughout this time,” Mr Tang said. 

“The anxiety and mental anguish caused to the accused cannot be understated.”

Principal District Judge Jill Tan noted that no actual losses from NLB were quantified. 

She added that while the extent of the benefit enjoyed by BES was difficult to quantify, the act of cultivating an insider to advance business interest was a “very real benefit”. 

Judge Tan said that the key mitigating factor in Tan’s case was his guilty plea, but this was offset by the charge that was taken into consideration. 

She declined to accord any sentencing discount due to the alleged delay in investigations, as the authorities had needed time to determine the extent of offending of all accused persons.

For corruption, Tan could have been jailed for up to seven years, or fined up to S$100,000 or both.