Oct 29, 2010
Ex-senior foreman fined for graft
By Elena Chong
Heng Yan Kang,44, a senior foreman of Takenka Corporation could have been fined up to $100,000 and/or jailed for up to five years. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
A MAN who helped a statutory board technical officer corruptly obtain a watch from a subcontractor was fined $16,000 on Friday. Heng Yan Kang, 44, was a senior foreman of Takenaka Corporation when he abetted Mohamed Najib Solihin, 46, then a technical officer with Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, to get a Tag Heuer watch from Mr Pour Beng Quey, who was a director of a subcontractor, Hsuen Chow, in July 2008.
This was done in return for Najib to approve Hsuen Chow's application for a permit to work without delay and not to find fault with the upgrading work at Changi Airport's Terminal 1 undertaken by the subcontractor. Takenaka was the main contractor for the upgrading works at Terminal 1. Sometime in May or June that year, Heng told Najib that he and Mr Pour would like to buy him lunch for his birthday.
But Najib declined, saying he wanted a $3,700 Tag Heuer watch instead. Heng then spoke to Mr Pour about the proposed purchase and said it would be best for him to be on good terms with Najib as he could ensure that the permits to work would be approved without delay.
The watch was subsequently passed to Najib by Heng at the staff canteen in the presence of Mr Pour, who has not been charged. Najib has since been jailed six months for corruption and ordered to pay a penalty of the total sum of bribes he received from several contractors. Heng, now unemployed, could have been fined up to $100,000 and/or jailed for up to five years.
