Four Singaporeans were charged in court last Friday, 29 Dec 2017, with conspiring and cheating SMRT Trains Ltd of a whopping S$9.8 million in contracts that were awarded to an organisation they had vested interests in.
The offences, which occurred during a five year period between 2007 and 2012, involved three employees of the transport operator, two of whom have since left the organisation.
The ex-employees are 61-year-old former manager Jamalludin Bin Jumari and 59-year-old former assistant engineer Zakaria Bin Mohamed Shariff. The third defendant is 52-year-old current SMRT Trains line manager Zulkifli Bin Marwi while the fourth accused is the 60-year-old director of Enovation Industries Pte Ltd/Enovation Technologies Pte Ltd, Akbar Ali Bin Tambishahib.
Jamalludin, Zakaria and Zulkifli have been charged with conspiring to dishonestly conceal their interests in Akbar’s companies from SMRT and allowed Akbar’s companies to win contracts worth a total of S$9.8 million. The amount for each purchase order reportedly ranged between S$3,700 and S$3.9 million.
SMRT discovered the offences and reported the men to the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau (CPIB) in 2012, following internal investigations. The transport operator told reporters: “SMRT referred this case to CPIB in 2012 for their investigation. This followed immediately after internal investigations by the company to find out the nature and extent of suspected wrongdoing. We note the charges filed by CPIB today and await the outcome of the proceedings.”
The CPIB revealed in a press release on Friday that Jamalludin fled to Malaysia in 2013 and that he was brought back to Singapore to face charges, with the expeditious help of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
The defendants could be fined and/or sentenced to a maximum 10 years in jail for the offences. All four defendants are reportedly planning to contest their charges.