S
Sauron
Guest
Jul 25, 2011
Fined for bribing airport staff to waive excess baggage fee
By Khushwant Singh
A SRI LANKAN businessman was fined $5,000 on Monday for bribing a passenger service assistant with $700 to waive excess baggage fees amounting to $5,060.
Ovisa Yamane Gedara Atula Pradeep Rupasinghe, 41, pleaded guilty to giving $300 to William Wong, 35, in mid-2008 and another $400 that October.
A district court heard the foreigner would make frequent trips here to buy all types of goods and got to know Wong, who would man the passenger check-in counter for Emirates Airlines.
Among his duties was to ensure that baggage did not exceed the stipulated weight limit and to collect $22 for every excess kilogramme.
The Singaporean has also been dealt with. A district court fined him $4,800 for the bribes he received from the Sri Lankan.
He also pleaded guilty to five unrelated corruption charges.
In all, he was fined a total of $8,400 and ordered to pay a penalty of $1,440.
