May 12, 2010
Ex-CEO on corruption charge
By Elena Chong
THE former chief executive officer and managing director of listed AEM-Evertech was charged with corruption and making a false declarations on Wednesday. Businessman Ang Seng Thor, 46, was the managing director of Ever Technologies in 2000 when he is said to have helped Mr Siow Sing Heng get permanent residence status in Singapore by allegedly making false declarations that Mr Siow was employed by the company when it was not true.
He is accused of giving bribes totalling $157,508 to Seagate Technology International assistant engineer Ho Sze Khee between October 2004 and March 2005 to advance the business interests of AEM-Evertech with Seagate. He is alleged to have, together with ex-chairman Tok Kian You, 49, given a $50,000 bribe to Mr Tan Gek Chuan, an operations director of Infineon Technologies Malaysia, in show favour in relation to AEM-Everton's bid to supply four inspection machines to Infineon.
The alleged offence took place in Malacca, Malaysia, on a day in January 2004. Last month, the microelectronic components producer's former chief financial officer, Kammy Choo Swee Keng, 54, was sentenced to three months' jail for her role in helping to cover up more than $1 million kickbacks to customers. She is appealing against sentence. Ang, represented by Mr Wendell Wong, is out on $75,000 bail and was given permission to travel overseas for business. The case has been fixed for a pre-trial conference on June 10. If convicted, he faces a fine of up to $100,000 and/or a jail term of up to five years on each bribery charge. For making a false declaration, the maximum penalty is a fine of up to $4,000 and a year's jail.
