Fish supplier jailed for conspiring with boss to give NTUC FairPrice team leader S$25,000 in bribes
As a result of the bribes, the NTUC FairPrice senior team leader bought 200kg to 400kg more fish per day from Fish Vision.
Fish merchants at Jurong Fishery Port. (Photo: CNA/Aqil Haziq Mahmud)
Lydia Lam
@LydiaLamCNA13 Feb 2023 02:20PM(Updated: 13 Feb 2023 02:20PM)
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SINGAPORE: In order to induce a senior team leader at NTUC FairPrice to buy more fish from their business, an employee at a fish supplying company conspired with his boss to fork out almost S$25,000 in bribes.
Ngow Chun Siong, 44, was sentenced to seven months' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of bribery on Monday (Feb 13).
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He was also given a driving ban of 30 months and fined S$4,000 for a second unrelated charge of drink driving. A third charge was taken into consideration.
The court heard that Ngow, a Malaysian, was an employee of Fish Vision Agro-tech, a company that sold fish wholesale. Fish Vision operated a market stall at Jurong Fishery Port, which Ngow oversaw.
Ngow's job scope included transporting fish to the stall as well as selling and packing them. He received a commission of 3 to 5 cents for each kilogramme of fish sold. This amounted to at least 30 per cent to 50 per cent of his base pay.
Each day, he had to fill out a profit and loss report stating the amount of fish purchased from suppliers and the sales made to customers, as well as his own claims such as for parking and labour.
Co-accused Lim Kian Kok, 48, worked for NTUC FairPrice Co-operative, part of the consumer co-operative of the National Trade Union Congress, and Singapore's largest supermarket chain.
"It is a social enterprise with the mission to moderate the cost of living in Singapore by providing affordable groceries to all," said the prosecutor.
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SENIOR TEAM LEADER'S JOB SCOPE
From July 2013 to October 2020, Lim worked as a senior team leader overseeing NTUC FairPrice's night-buying operations at Jurong Fishery Port.He was tasked with buying fresh fish and seafood from suppliers based on the types and quantities of fish and seafood required by each NTUC FairPrice outlet for the day.
Lim, a Singaporean, was one of two senior team leaders doing this. Before the "circuit-breaker" period in 2020, they alternated weekly shifts. After that, they alternated daily shifts.
In his capacity, Lim had the discretion to determine which supplier to purchase fish and seafood from and how much to buy. As the price was already pre-determined between NTUC FairPrice and the suppliers, he was to make purchases based on the quality of the suppliers' service and fish.
When suppliers had an oversupply of goods and offered to sell them for cheaper, Lim also had the discretion to buy them and to determine the quantities. This is known as "spot-buying".
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Spot-buying benefited suppliers as they could clear their stock quickly and ensure the goods did not go to waste.
Ngow and Lim became acquainted with each other after Lim started working for NTUC FairPrice at Jurong Fishery Port. NTUC FairPrice was Fish Vision's largest customer.
Around February 2020, Ngow asked Lim if he could purchase more fish from Fish Vision. Lim asked Ngow what he would receive if he did so, and implied that he would buy more fish from Fish Vision if Ngow gave him money.
NGOW WANTED MORE COMMISSION
Ngow understood what Lim said and wanted to earn more commission. He told his boss and co-accused, 47-year-old Singaporean Chew Kim Hwee, about this.Chew agreed to offer Lim 20 cents for each kilogramme of fish that Lim bought from Fish Vision on behalf of NTUC FairPrice, and Ngow relayed this offer to Lim.
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Lim agreed, and the arrangement began in February 2020 until September 2020. Ngow would claim the bribes from Fish Vision by submitting claims for "labour charges for the packing of fish" in his daily profit and loss reports.
This idea was cooked up by Chew to disguise the corrupt transactions. The claims were processed by Fish Vision's administrative manager, and Chew would approve the claims, which were paid to Ngow from the petty cash account each month.
During that period, Ngow handed eight sums of cash to Lim in envelopes near Jurong Fishery Port when no one else was around.
The sums ranged between S$2,320 and S$4,150, and totalled nearly S$25,000.
Because of the bribes, Lim bought 200kg to 400kg more fish per day from Fish Vision on behalf of NTUC FairPrice. The original amount he would buy before the corrupt arrangement began was 200kg per day.
Lim would give Ngow about half of the bribes received, which came up to about S$12,500.
Ngow also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of drink driving along Tampines Avenue 10 on Apr 25, 2022. He had driven after sharing three big bottles of Tiger beer with his colleagues after work.
The prosecutor had asked for eight to 12 months' jail for the bribery charge and a S$4,000 fine and 30 months' driving ban for the drink driving offence.
Ngow's lawyer said he was only an employee, "driven by commissions".
He said Ngow accepts that it was his greed that got him into this mess, but the method of disguising the bribes came from his boss, the director.
The cases for Lim and Chew are pending.
