GrabFin head who drove drunk offered to be road safety ambassador instead of serving jail time

SINGAPORE: A Grab director with a previous record of misdeeds on the road was involved in a case of drink driving on Aug 17, 2023, and ended up crashing into a traffic light.

Wong Wenbin, 42, was given a 12-day jail sentence and slapped with a fine of S$$5,000. He is also not allowed to drive for 36 months, reported The Straits Times on Oct 24.

Wong is the head of GrabFin, the company’s fintech arm.

What caught the attention of Singaporeans on Reddit is that in mitigation, Wong’s lawyer suggested an alternative to a jail term, as well as the judge’s snappy and sharp answers to him.

The lawyer asked for 120 hours of community service for Wong instead of the GrabFin director being sent to prison, suggesting that he could be an ambassador for road safety for the purpose of influencing others.

Saying this would allow Wong to “make an impact in society,” the lawyer added that “when someone does something wrong, he is in a position to help other people to not make the same mistake as him.”

The judge on Wong’s case did not appear to be amenable to the suggestion, however, asking the lawyer what was stopping Wong from volunteering to be an ambassador of road safety even without a court order.

The lawyer acknowledged that he had made a “slightly unusual” request, but added that the traffic light his client had bumped into had been fixed by the next morning and hadn’t caused inconvenience to many motorists.

District Judge Shawn Ho then told him that he did not see this as a mitigating factor, and credited the quick repair to the Land Transport Authority.

Wong had at least 63 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, while the prescribed limit is 35 microgrammes.

ST added that the prosecution had sought two to four weeks for Wong, calling him a serious offender because he had driven while drunk and was the cause of an accident less than an hour after consuming his last drink.

He also has a previous record for failing to stop at a red light as well as speeding.

For the offence of drink driving, Wong could have been fined between $2,000 and $10,000 or given a jail sentence of as long as a year. Two years is the maximum jail time and S$20,000 is the maximum fine for repeat offenders.

Singaporeans commenting on the story also drew attention to Wong failing to take a Grab home when he was drunk, despite his being an executive with the company. /TISG

Read also: GrabGrab delivers chicken rice to Loh Kean Yew in Denmark, but not everyone is amused