ICA officer acquitted of four charges
by Teo Xuanwei
05:56 AM Jul 31, 2010
A senior immigration officer successfully appealed against his conviction for graft on Friday and was acquitted by the High Court of all four charges against him.
Dong Ching Jit, 57, a deputy superintendent with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment and ordered to pay a $10,000 penalty after a district court found him guilty on four counts of accepting bribes to extend the social visit passes of foreign nationals.
However, Justice Choo Han Teck agreed with defence lawyer Sant Singh that the evidence tendered to the courts had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that gratification had been given to Dong.
Twelve charges were pressed against Dong in November 2008 but only four were proceeded on. The remaining eight, involving about $70,000 in alleged bribes, were taken into consideration and are now pending.Teo Xuanwei