Man pleads guilty to gambling activities through Singapore Zoo bribery scheme

Too Say Kiong, a Singaporean, was given a 26-month jail term for his participation in a bribery scam involving the Singapore Zoo. The 57-year-old Shin Yong Construction employee entered a guilty plea to 10 counts related to participating in a corruption scheme. His father, Toh Siang Bee, started this plan in 2005, and it has been running for a while.

Barry Chong Peng Wee, the Singapore Zoo’s director of facilities management at the time, served as the focal point of the bribery operation. Too served as a middleman, giving payments totaling more than SGD760,000 (US$554,443) to Chong in order to guarantee that Shin Yong Construction would get contracts from Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS). Through extra agreements that permitted them to retain some of the money for themselves, many people, including Too, benefitted from this arrangement.

In October 2016, the Corrupt Practises Investigations Bureau in Singapore opened an inquiry after learning of the illicit acts. Shin Yong Construction got more than SGD9 million (US$6.56 million) in work throughout the plan. Through this programme, four more businesses also secured contracts, which caused WRS to suffer an estimated loss of around SGD1.4 million (US$1.02 million) as a consequence of inflated bills.

Before a specialized team took over the work distribution in 2013, Chong was a key player in the approval of WRS tasks for contractors. The fraudulent practices persisted nonetheless as the team stuck to Chong’s suggestions. Chong would figure up how much money he would make from the trade and provide that information to Too, who would then arrange for the cash to be delivered. This happened once every week.

Even after Toh passed away in 2005, his son Too kept up the illegal behavior. Jobs with a 10% markup above the quote submitted to WRS were given to the construction business. Too acknowledged spending the additional money on recreation, such as excursions to casinos and other places where people gamble.

In order to emphasize how the plan denied other contractors at WRS opportunity, prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison. In the end, the court gave Too a 26-month jail term, emphasizing the magnitude of his involvement in the scam, which covered 114 instances and included more than SGD700,000 (US$510,370). The court also disproved accusations that Too was forced to make the payments, saying that he always had the option to quit but decided to go on.

Original story by: Casino.org