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Woman 'pressured' into sex act with ex-CNB chief
Prosecution says former IT sales manager was a victim protecting her job
by Amir Hussain 04:46 AM Sep 26, 2012
SINGAPORE - She was portrayed as a victim who was worried about jeopardising her work while he was described as a man who allegedly insisted on sexual favours even though he knew that she was pursuing procurement opportunities with the organisation he headed, and thus would not reject his "sexual overtures because she had business interests in mind".
This was the picture painted by the prosecution yesterday, in its opening address on the first day of the trial of former Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) chief Ng Boon Gay, 46, who faces four counts of allegedly obtaining oral sex from IT executive Cecilia Sue Siew Nang, 36, in exchange for assisting her companies in their bids for contracts with the CNB.
According to the prosecution, Ng - who, along with former Singapore Civil Defence Force chief Peter Lim, is embroiled in the most high-profile corruption cases involving public servants in decades - had allegedly demanded oral sex from Ms Sue "on the same day that CNB officially contracted to buy certain products which she had marketed".
"In addition, on that same day (sometime before the sex act) Cecilia had suggested a specific piece of software to the accused as being something that could help CNB," Deputy Chief Prosecutor (DCP) Tan Ken Hwee said in front of a packed courtroom.
He added: "We say that Cecilia was pressured into performing fellatio for the accused."
According to the prosecution, Ms Sue acceded to Ng's demands because she was concerned "about contracts that she had obtained, and would be seeking to obtain, directly or indirectly, from the Central Narcotics Bureau".
She was also concerned that if she did not give in - or had raised the alarm and reported the incidents - "she would jeopardise the existing commercial relationship" she had built with the CNB.
Ng allegedly obtained sexual gratification from Ms Sue in the form of oral sex on four occasions between July and December last year, with corrupt intent. During this period, Ms Sue worked for Hitachi Data Systems and for Oracle Corporation Singapore, which she joined in November last year. Ms Sue has since left Oracle.
A HIGH BAR FOR CIVIL SERVANTS
The fact that there were no lapses in the procurement processes at the CNB was not material to the case, the prosecution argued.
Under the Prevention of Corruption Act, where a civil servant obtains gratification "from a person that has or is seeking to have business dealings with the Government, he is presumed to have done so corruptly", said Mr Tan.
He added: "All that is required is that the recipient of the gratification had reason to believe that the gratification was offered to him as inducement." This, "even if there is no actual interference with Government procurement process on account of the gratification", he noted.
He reiterated that the prosecution does not "use the criminal justice system to enforce marriage vows", nor to "police morality".
"However the situation is very different when a public officer enters or continues a sexual relationship with a person who has business dealings with the very department that he is in charge of," Mr Tan said.
According to Ng's defence lawyer, Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, his client had been in a relationship with Ms Sue from 2009. "Personal indiscretions aside", Ng is not corrupt, the lawyer argued.
Ng's lawyer also applied for the court to order a discharge amounting to an acquittal for his client, on the basis that the charges framed against Ng "are so general and lacking in particulars" that his client is "severely prejudiced, contrary to the proper administration of criminal justice".
The prosecution should ascertain the specific products, or approved contracts that were implicated in the alleged corruption, said the lawyer.
The application was rejected by District Judge Siva Shanmugam. The judge said he found the prosecution's charges sufficiently framed.
CECILIA SUE'S RESIGNATION WAS "PERFORMANCE RELATED"
The trial is slated for 18 days and is expected to take place over three months. Five witnesses - including Ms Sue - will be called by the prosecution.
The first witness to take the stand yesterday was Oracle Singapore's Managing Director Leslie Ong.
Under cross-examination by Ng's lawyer, Mr Ong said that at the material time of the charges, Ms Sue was not handling any CNB accounts.
According to Mr Ong, Ms Sue was interviewed by him, Oracle's in-house legal counsel, and its Human Resource Director, after Ng was charged in June.
However, Ms Sue's resignation from the company in July was "performance related in that she did not achieve her targets", and not due to the outcome of the interview, said Mr Ong.
Mr Ong will continue to take the stand today. Apart from Ms Sue, the other witnesses are the General Manager of Hitachi Systems, the CNB Deputy Director, and an Ministry of Finance official. If convicted, Ng faces up to S$100,000 in fine and/or five years jail for each charge.
No anonymity order for woman witness
by Amir Hussain
The woman at the centre of the high-profile case, Ms Cecilia Sue Siew Nang, 36, is suffering from clinical depression as a result of the media glare, the prosecution told the court yesterday.
It cited her condition yesterday as it sought to apply for an Anonymity Order at the beginning of the trial of former Central Narcotics Bureau chief Ng Boon Gay.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Tan Ken Hwee, who submitted a psychiatric report on Ms Sue to the court, argued that further publication of Ms Sue's name and pictures will be "detrimental" to her mental well-being, and should be prohibited "in the interest of justice". It is important that Ms Sue gives evidence "without distress to her well-being", Mr Tan added.
The order was not granted, with District Judge Siva Shanmugam saying he was unconvinced by the prosecution's arguments.
It emerged in court that Ms Sue was interrogated by the police for eight hours in January. In her witness statement, Ms Sue - who gave birth to her first child in May 2010 - claimed at one point that she was Ng's lover and she wanted to leave her husband to marry him.
According to the statement of agreed facts submitted to the court, Ng, 46, "got acquainted with Cecilia at a pub in Tanjong Pagar, through a mutual friend", sometime in early 2009 - when he was the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Singapore Police Force.
The statement added that Ms Sue was employed in Sun Microsystems as a Sales Manager between 2007 and 2010. Her responsibilities included looking after customers' accounts and developing new business opportunities.
In April 2010, Ms Sue joined Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) as a Strategic Sales Director. One of the reasons that she was employed at HDS, according to the statement, was her experience with handling government-related accounts with Sun Microsystems.
On Nov 21 last year, Ms Sue joined Oracle Corporation Singapore as a Senior Sales Manager.
Amir Hussain