Singapore—A 48-year old National Parks Board (NParks) officer on Tuesday (Apr 13) faced nine charges of insulting a woman’s modesty along with one charge each of cheating and corruption.
The accused, Lee Choon Phing, manages the Community in Bloom branch of NParks, which is a programme for promoting gardening culture.
He allegedly took a number of upskirt photos and asked for a bribe from one supplier who had failed to complete a delivery.
Lee has been accused of soliciting a bribe from SBM Easi Trade in February 2020 amounting to S$10,000. He is said to have told one of the directors of the company that he would lie by telling NParks that SBM Easi Trade had made good on a delivery of 10,000 hats.
In actuality, only 5,000 hats had been delivered.
Moreover, the delivery had been late, and the company should have been charged a late fee for it.
Lee’s cheating charge is in relation to this incident, because in April 2020, an NParks accounts executive paid S$23,300, the full amount for the hats, to SBM Easi Trade, believing the delivery had been complete.
As to the other charges, Lee is said to have taken several upskirt photos of women between October 2015 and May 2019.
In October 2015, he took upskirt photos of two different women at a nursery. In April 2017, he took upskirt photos of one of these women again.
In March 2019, he took upskirt pictures of two other women near Cedar Girls’ Secondary School, and in the following month, took upskirt photos of other women on two occasions in an MRT train cabin.
CNA quotes a spokesperson for NParks as saying, “As the matter is before the courts, it is not appropriate for NParks to comment.”
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau has said that the country has a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption.
If Lee is found guilty of corruption, he can be jailed for as long as five years, or fined as much as S$100,000, or both.
And because the matter involves a government or public body, he could actually be jailed for seven years.
For cheating, the maximum sentence is 10 years and a fine.
And for insulting a woman’s modesty, he could be jailed for one year, and/or fined, for each charge.
/TISG