NParks manager gets jail after asking for S$10,000 bribe, upskirt photos found in his possession during CPIB probe
Nuria Ling/TODAY
- Lee Choon Ping, who was working as a manager at the National Parks Board at the time of his offences, solicited S$10,000 of bribes from a supplier
- He threatened to reject goods already delivered by the supplier if the latter declined his unlawful proposition
- During investigations, the authorities found upskirt photos in Lee's possession
- It was discovered that he had taken photos of female students, public transport commuters and colleagues
BY
Published March 29, 2023
SINGAPORE — Tasked to procure around 10,000 hats for a garden festival, a National Parks Board (NParks) manager decided to offer advice to a supplier on the bid price so that the vendor would be able to secure the government tender.
Later on, the manager would realise that NParks already had 5,000 hats from a previous order. Instead of taking the right steps to correct this excess, Lee Choon Ping told the supplier to deliver only half the order and transfer S$10,000 — roughly the value for the remaining hats — into his personal account.
Lee then falsely threatened that if the supplier did not do so and tried to reimburse NParks, it could land the supplier in jail.
His actions came to light after a probe by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). While he was being investigated, several up-skirt photos were found in Lee's possession.
On Wednesday (March 29), the 49-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to a total of 11 months’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of attempting to obtain corrupt gratification, one count of cheating, and two counts of insulting the modesty of a woman.
Seven similar charges of insulting a person's modesty were taken into consideration during sentencing.
WHAT HAPPENED
Court documents stated that Lee was a manager of NParks Community in Bloom, an initiative to encourage gardening among residents.
His responsibilities included training and managing volunteers and organising activities. He was also tasked to maintain the inventory stocktake for the project, and from time to time, he was tasked with procurement responsibilities and would be the point of contact for such procurements.
TODAY has contacted NParks to confirm Lee's current employment status.
In an earlier tender in 2016, NParks procured 10,000 gardener’s hats from SBM Easi Trade, a firm that supplies souvenirs, corporate gifts and events merchandise. Lee was the point of contact then.
In September 2019, Lee proposed to his supervisor to order 10,000 hats in preparation for an event in August 2022, despite already knowing at that time that there were 2,000 leftover hats from the earlier purchase.
After putting up the invitation to quote on the government procurement website, Lee contacted Mr Jota Tan Beng Khoon, the sole proprietor of SBM Easi Trade, telling him that it was a “price war” in order to signal to him that he should quote the lowest price possible to secure the contract.
SBM Easi Trade eventually beat five other vendors after placing a bid of S$23,300 to supply the hats.
Lee later realised during a stocktake that there were 5,000 unused hats. He did not highlight the matter to NParks as was the protocol, but instead told Mr Tan to order just 5,000 pieces from SBM Easi Trade's supplier.
Mr Tan believed at the time that Lee was asking for the delivery of the 10,000 hats to be staggered in two batches of 5,000.
Lee later met Mr Tan in person to inform him to just deliver 5,000 hats to NParks and to give a refund for the remaining 5,000 hats to his personal account.
At the same meeting, Lee then told Mr Tan that he wanted the S$10,000 to be paid to him personally in S$1,000 notes.
Mr Tan eventually declined Lee’s request and made no payment to him, telling him that he wished to fulfil the full purchase contract.
On March 9 2020, Mr Tan informed Lee that SBM Easi Trade faced difficulties delivering the hats by NPark’s March 13 deadline due to supply delays. Mr Tan was prepared to pay the penalty for delayed delivery.
Two days later, Lee offered to help Mr Tan, saying that the penalty would not benefit NParks regardless and would result in a delayed payment to SMB Easi Trade. He then instructed Mr Tan to issue a delivery order in advance of the delivery date.
He had earlier in February asked Mr Tan to send him a similar delivery order indicating that half the hats had been delivered, when no hats were delivered at all.
Lee signed the documents and sent them to a senior manager from NParks Community in Bloom, together with photos of leftover hats from 2016, which led the senior manager to believe that the delivery was completed.
As a result, the senior manager gave the go-ahead for NParks to pay the supplier on March 13, even though the 5,000 hats were only delivered two weeks later, on March 26.
On April 16 in 2020, Lee contacted Mr Tan again, asking him for the money for the remaining 5,000 hats.
After further discussion, Mr Tan again rejected Lee’s request for the S$10,000 and offered to give him a personal loan of S$3,000 instead, informing him that he wanted to fully supply NParks with the 10,000 hats based on the contract's terms.
Court documents did not indicate why Mr Tan offered Lee a loan.
Lee rejected the loan offer and told Mr Tan that if he did not pay him a lower amount of S$8,000, Lee would reject the 5,000 hats that were delivered earlier.
Mr Tan again declined and offered to return 50 per cent of the contract sum to NParks, to which Lee replied that Mr Tan would go to jail if he did so.
On April 30 in 2020, Mr Tan sent Lee a credit note payable to NParks worth half of the original purchase contract, but Lee did not take any action on this.
UPSKIRT PHOTOS OF STUDENTS
Court documents stated that upskirt photographs were found when the authorities seized Lee’s hard disk during investigations.
Investigators later found that Lee attended an open house event with his daughter on March 7, 2019. Upon spotting two female students wearing skirts, he took three upskirt photographs with his phone.
About a month later, Lee came across a female stranger wearing a short skirt whom he found attractive and took a photo up her skirt.
Court documents showed that of the charges taken into consideration, five were committed against Lee’s colleagues at NParks’ office, while one was against another female commuter on an MRT train.
Seeking at least 10 months and eight weeks’ jail in total for all proceeded charges, Deputy Public Prosecutor Victoria Ting noted that Lee was the one who initiated the bribe request, and was persistent despite Mr Tan rejecting his overtures.
Lee also abused the trust given to him by NParks by asking for more hats than required, using existing hats to deceive his senior manager into believing that the goods were delivered on time, and created an opportunity for him to profit by asking the supplier to underdeliver the hats.
Seeking a lower sentence of six months’ imprisonment, with another six to seven weeks’ jail and a S$20,00 fine, defence lawyers Sunil Sudheesan and Joyce Khoo described their client’s wrongdoings as “unfortunate aberration”, given his clean record before this.
They argued that no actual losses were suffered by NParks since refunds were made.
In delivering his decision, District Judge Kenneth Chin said that he agreed with the prosecution’s sentencing position, noting how Lee had sought out the illegal gratification from the supplier on multiple occasions.
Lee used his position to threaten Mr Tan, which was a significant culpability enhancing factor, the judge said.
Lee's actions in cheating NParks was also premeditated, given that he took photos of the old stock of hats to deceive the senior manager to begin processing payment for what were undelivered goods.
For committing an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Lee could have been jailed up to seven years or fined up to S$100,000, or both.
For cheating, he could have been jailed for another 10 years and fined.
For each count of insulting modesty of a woman, Lee could have been sentenced to jail for up to a year or fined, or both.
