SINGAPORE - Two men were charged in court on Wednesday (Sept 9) for accepting bribes amounting to over $25,000 while supervising work at an oil blending plant in Jalan Buroh, near West Coast Road.
Neo Gim Chwee, and Cheow Hock Mun, both 48, allegedly obtained the bribes from the director of LGC Engineering & Contractors (LGC), Lim Gim Chuan.
Both men were to "exercise leniency" over their supervision of work done by the engineering firm, said court documents.
Lim was sentenced to 10 weeks' jail in June this year over his involvement in the case.
Neo, who faces four charges of corruption, is accused of accepting $5,000 from Lim four times between May 2015 and February 2016.
Court documents said that he was a project manager at another engineering firm, Hiap Seng Engineering (HSE) at the time of the offences.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau had said in an earlier statement that LGC was a sub-contractor of HSE for civil engineering works at the Chevron Singapore Lube Oil Blending Plant.
The Straits Times understands that the blending plant is owned by Chevron Singapore, an oil company formerly known as Caltex Singapore.
Neo is also charged with one count of cheating HSE by dishonestly concealing the fact that LGC had passed him $10,000 meant for his company in July 2015.
He is expected to be back in court on Oct 7.
Cheow, a Malaysian, faces three charges of corruption. He is accused of accepting a $2,000 bribe from Lim three times between April and July 2015.
Court documents said that he was working as a health, environment and safety Specialist at Chevron Singapore at the time of the offences.
On Wednesday, Cheow indicated in court that he would plead guilty to the offences. His case was adjourned to Oct 9.
If found guilty, Neo and Cheow can each be jailed up to five years and/or fined up to $100,000 for each corruption-related offence.
They can also be ordered by the court to pay a penalty equal to the amount of the bribes received.
Neo can also be jailed for up to three years and/or fined if convicted of cheating .
