PUB officer jailed 4 months for corruption

[Red Squadron]

Feb 9, 2011

PUB officer jailed 4 months for corruption

By Elena Chong

A PUBLIC Utilities Board senior technician was jailed for four months and ordered to pay a penalty amounting to $2,299 for corruption on Wednesday. Jumat Omar, 41, attached to the Sewer Repair Section of the PUB, pleaded guilty to three charges.

A district court heard that on a day between October and December 2006, he tried to get an unspecified sum of money from Ms Oun Hui Peng, a business development manager of Pipeline Services, on account of his having recommended customers who needed sewer repair services to the company.

Whenever repair works were needed on private sewer lines belonging to home owners, Jumat would inform them and recommend that repairs be done. He could give a minimum of three referrals so that no contractors were unduly favoured over the others.

In February 2009, Jumat corruptly obtained a bribe in the form of entertainment at a KTV club from Mr Yeo Soon Tian, a director of PMPS Liner Technology, by not making it inconvenient for the company in their carrying out of sewer rehabilitation works for PUB.

Although PMPS had no dealings with PUB, it had a sub-contract with Tong Shing Contractors, which was contracted to carry out sewer rehabilitation works for the PUB facilities.

The following month, Jumat asked Mr Yeo to be present at a PUB site in Balestier and asked for his help to repair his laptop as the screen was spoilt. PMPS paid for the $755 repairs.

 

[General Veers]

2 former directors jailed 1 month each for graft

Published on Feb 17, 2012
By Elena Chong

Two former directors of a sewer pipeline rehabilitation company were each sentenced to one month's jail on Friday for corruption.

Yeo Soon Tian 40, and Alvin Tay Hock Jin, 32, had pleaded guilty earlier to entertaining then PUB senior technician Jumat Omar, 42, at a KTV lounge and paying for the cost of repair of his laptop, in return for not finding fault with works carried out by their company, PMPS Liner Technology.

A district court heard that in 2008 and 2009, PMPS had a sub-contract with a company which carried out sewer rehabilitation works for PUB facilities.

Jumat had also acted as a clerk-of-works on worksites and was in a position to file any complaints on safety issues concerning any breach of safety regulations by PMPS staff.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.