iTODAY: Ex-instructor pleaded guilty to SLA scam

From iTODAY:Ex-instructor pleaded guilty to SLA scam

Teo Xuanwei Dec 16, 2010 6:00

SINGAPORE - Former swimming instructor Ho Yen Teck yesterday became the first out of eight men facing the rap in the multi-million dollar Singapore Land Authority (SLA) scam to plead guilty.

Ho, who faced 195 counts of conspiring with ex-SLA officers Koh Seah Wee and Lim Chai Meng to cheat the Government of $9.8 million between January 2008 and March this year, pleaded guilty to 21 counts.

District Judge Jasbendar Kaur convicted Ho and took the remaining 174 charges into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.

The court also heard that Ho, 31, only pocketed $200,000 despite his major role in the ruse, according to court documents.

The rest of the money went to the alleged masterminds, Koh, 40, and Lim, 37. The pair were respectively the deputy director and manager of SLA's technology and infrastructure department at that time.

The modus operandi of the ruse allegedly involved Koh and Lim putting up fictitious tenders for goods and maintenance services in the Government's procurement portal, GeBiz, although these were not needed.

In most cases, Lim allegedly even obtained the IDs and passwords of the conspirator "vendors" in order to submit the lowest bids on their behalf, so that the bogus contracts would be awarded to them.

Goods and work were never delivered but still the two officials are said to have prepared false invoices for payment by the SLA's finance department.

Koh and Lim are accused of awarding 237 bogus contracts with a total value of almost $12.2 million to 10 companies in this way.

Seven of these 10 companies - including MSB Technology and Services, Alpha Technology and Services, and JW Technology and Services - belonged to Ho.

So far, police have recovered cash and assets worth about $10 million.

HOW IT BEGAN

The court heard that Ho got to know Koh sometime in 2006 when the latter became his student.

About a year later, Koh asked Ho whether he wanted to earn some money by bidding for IT projects with the SLA.

He allegedly told Ho he would arrange for contracts to be awarded to him and give him a cut of the payment made by the SLA thereafter.

Ho agreed and subsequently set up his seven shell companies.

Whenever money was paid into his companies' accounts, Ho would be instructed to withdraw specified sums and hand over the cash to Koh. He kept the rest.

Ho will be sentenced on Jan 7 next year. For each offence, he faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine.

The cases of Koh and Lim, who face 302 and 309 charges respectively, will be heard in court again next week.

The pre-trial conferences of the other five businessmen embroiled in the scam will be heard in January.

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