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Jan 11, 2011
Pork supplier accused of KTV bribe
By Elena Chong
A BUSINESSMAN is being tried for corruptly providing KTV entertainment to a supermarket executive in return for leniency when it came to inspecting work done by his company.
Ong Soon Guan, founder and managing director of home-grown pork processor and distributor Ong Joo Joo Food Industries, has claimed trial to four charges of giving bribes in the form of entertainment to Cold Storage Singapore's then employee Peter Lee King Hock between May 2003 and August 2004.
Ong, 44, allegedly paid between $1,000 to $1,600 on each of the four occasions to entertain Mr Lee at various places.
Cold Storage's head of fresh food Voon Seow Kiang had told the court that Mr Lee had to carry out inspections at the stores on the quality of the meat supplied.
Asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Christine Liu how the receipt of KTV entertainment by an employee would be viewed by the company, Mr Voon said as KTV entertainment was not of small value and not customary in nature, employees should not be receiving such entertainment from suppliers.
During cross-examination, the defence suggested that Ong was the one who came up with the idea of a concessionaire system instead of direct supply to Mr Lee - a move which turned out to be very profitable for both sides.
Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of the Straits Times.
