Aug 25, 2010
Judge clears cop of corruption
<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent
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<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start --> A RETIRED police officer was cleared on Wednesday of a corruption charge after a trial. Hashim Kamari, 49, was acquitted of corruptly accepting from Mr Lim Sun Kwang, then sales executive of JR Pte Ltd, a discount of $83 on the purchase of a Metzeler tyre as a reward for recommending the Traffic Police Department to buy this tyre.
He was a senior station inspector and attached to the Automotive Engineering and Management Division as a project management officer in 2004 when he was accused of the offence. In acquitting him, District Judge Kessler Soh said the burden was on the prosecution to show that the selling price of the tyre was $163, but documents tendered did not show this to be the case then.
In fact, the maximum price the tyre was sold at the time was $110. Mr Lim, a key prosecution witness, had testified that he had sold tyres below $80, which was below what Hashim had paid for the tyre. The judge also found that the purchase was not done corruptly nor was it established that it was a reward. Hashim, represented by Mr Vijay Kumar, still has a pending charge under the Police Force Act which is fixed for pre-trial conference on Sept 9.
