SINGAPORE: Three of the founders of Fullerton Healthcare Corporation, plus the former CEO of Aon Singapore, were slapped with charges of corruption and falsifying accounts on Thursday (Feb 8).
Daniel Chan Pai Sheng, 50, Michael Tan Kim Song, 50, and David Sin, 44, the founders of and former directors at Fullerton Healthcare, are said to have given bribes to Collin Chew, a former chief executive of Aon Risk Solutions Singapore, an insurance broker firm.
Sin, Fullerton Health’s former majority owner who had also been chairman of the board and president, faces eight counts of falsifying accounts and five graft-related offences.
Chan also faces eight charges, while Tan faces one charge of falsifying accounts and four charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Tan had been a director of Fullerton Healthcare Group, while Chan was a director of Fullerton Health and president of Fullerton Health China.
The charges are due to the three men conspiring to corruptly give gratification to Chiew between 2015 and 2019 on multiple occasions for a total of S$668,000.
Chiew has been slapped with five counts of corruptly obtaining these gratifications and one count of money laundering. He is said to have purchased a landed property at Bedok Terrace in 2018 with some of the money he obtained through the bribes.
In December, CNA reported that Chiew was first charged with taking S$240,000 (US$179,000) in bribes from Fullerton.
For this fresh round of charges, he allegedly received S$348,000 from Chan on different occasions between 2015 and 2018.
At the time, Chiew was CEO of Aon Singapore.
The bribes are said to have been intended to advance the healthcare company’s interests with Aon Singapore. They continued when Chiew moved to AIA Hong Kong as director of the corporate solutions agency.
During his stint with AIA Hong Kong in 2019, he allegedly received S$320,000 in bribes from Chan.
The cases against the four men have been adjourned until next month.
CNA reported in December that a whistleblower had informed Fullerton Health’s management concerning the issue, a spokesperson for the company said.
“Fullerton Health and the board then commissioned independent investigations by two external professional parties and also took strong action to report it to the relevant authorities. At all times, we fully cooperated with the authorities and regulators.
The individuals in respect of the allegations are no longer with Fullerton Health. Fullerton Health also has no dealings with Straits Priority Consulting.” /TISG