Ex-NEA staff charged after taking bribes to turn blind eye to the state of migrant worker dorms

SINGAPORE: A former National Environment Agency (NEA) officer was charged in court yesterday (7 Mar) for taking bribes in exchange for showing leniency during inspections at migrant worker dormitories.

32-year-old Mohamad Shahril Selasa faces 19 charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to charge sheets, he received a total of $293 and attempted to claim $241 and the court heard that he asked for bribes ranging from S$7 to S$70.

Shahril was designated as a vector control officer when he was in the NEA and was instructed to ensure dormitories are free of vectors such as mosquitoes, rats, and cockroaches that can transmit diseases.

The court heard that he approached ten individuals working in the migrant worker dormitories in Sungai Kadut, Kranji Road, Senoko Avenue and Woodlands Industrial Park, between November and December 2021, for bribes. These individuals include site supervisors, assistant managers, human resource officers of dormitories and even construction workers.

In exchange for a sum of money, Shahril promised to be lenient when conducting inspection work in these dormitories. He now faces up to five years in jail and/or a heft S$100,000 fine if he is convicted of soliciting bribes.

An NEA spokesman has since informed the press that Shahril was on a one-year contract and that his contract expired in April last year.

Asserting that the agency has been and will continue to assist with the investigation, the representative said: “NEA does not condone any acts by its officers that violate Singapore’s laws and adopts a zero-tolerance stance against all forms of corrupt behaviour.