ICA officer accused of receiving sexual services, cash as bribes; 3 others also charged with corruption
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Dominic Low
- UPDATED
NOV 24, 2020, 4:53 PM
SINGAPORE - An Immigration and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA) officer allegedly received bribes and sexual services from two foreign women, in exchange for helping them remain in Singapore legally.
Teo Hwee Peng, 47, and the women - Chinese nationals Liang Qinglan, 37, and Cheng Wenjuan, 32 - were charged in court on Tuesday (Nov 24) for corruption.
Teo, a checkpoints inspector, faces 12 charges, while Liang and Cheng face nine and 18 charges respectively.
Cheng is also linked to a similar matter involving another Singaporean, 42-year-old Kelvin Lim Chee Wee.
He is facing 14 charges for corruptly receiving bribes and sexual services from Cheng.
Court documents state that Liang and Cheng allegedly provided the sexual services and bribes to Teo, in return for the officer’s help in getting Special Passes issued to them.
A Special Pass, which legalises a foreigner's stay in Singapore, is issued for specific purposes such as assistance in investigations, court attendance and for stateless persons residing here.
Those holding Special Passes are not allowed to work without a valid work pass.
Between 2018 and last year, Liang purportedly provided Teo sexual services, at least $2,100 in cash, a red packet containing 188.88 yuan ($39) and loans of about 7000 yuan.
She also allegedly agreed to give him an Apple iPhone X.
Cheng is said to have corruptly provided Teo a massage with sexual services, and offered him $1,500 in cash, on separate occasions in July last year.
She also allegedly offered him another $500, which he rejected.
On July 26 last year, Cheng purportedly offered Teo an unspecified sum of cash in exchange for information on the arrest status of another individual.
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In the matters involving Lim, Cheng is accused of corruptly providing him with sexual services as well as $7,000 and 1,000 yuan in cash, on various occasions between May and July 2019.She had allegedly done so in exchange for his help in getting a purported ICA officer to arrange for her to receive a Special Pass.
Cheng is also said to have bribed Lim with about $2,000 and 3,000 yuan to have a purported ICA officer arrange for a Special Pass to be issued to another person.
According to a statement by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), Lim had lied to her that he used to work at ICA and had friends in the immigration department who could arrange for her to be issued with a Special Pass.
But he had never worked at ICA and was in fact a manager of a motor vehicle workshop at that time, said CPIB.
On Tuesday, the court heard that Teo, Liang and Cheng will be contesting their respective charges, while Lim will be consulting his lawyer before making a decision.
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All four individuals are expected to be back in court on Dec 17.For each count of corruption, offenders can be jailed for up to five years, or fined up to $100,000, or both.
