Ng Boon Gay with his wife Ng Yen Yen
26 September 2012. Cecilia Sue Siew Nang took the stand as a prosecution witness today in the continuing trial of former Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) chief Ng Boon Gay. She gave graphic details of their meetings. Ms Sue turned up in court at about 11.30am, when Mr Leslie Ong, the managing director of Oracle Corporation Singapore was still on the stand. She was wearing a knee-length black pencil skirt with nude pumps. Then at about 3.30pm, the prosecution introduced Ms Sue as its second witness. The move was met with immediate objection by the defence. Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng said the prosecution could have informed them of the move but Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Economic Crimes and Governance Division Tan Ken Hwee, said Ms Sue was slated to take the stand in the afternoon. Her unscheduled appearance made the accused and his wife visibly nervous as the atmosphere within the courtroom turned tense. After a meeting in chambers, Ms Sue testified. The court heard that Ng forced Ms Sue’s head onto his crotch on four occasions in 2011.The incidents took place at car parks at Beaufort Hotel, Mount Faber, Hort Park and the Singapore General Hospital. She spoke softly in a muffled voice throughout her testimony. She avoided making eye contact with the gallery and kept her seat turned towards the judge as she gave her gripping testimony. She broke down in tears several times as she recounted how Ng forcibly and repeatedly tried to get her to have oral sex with him. During her three-hour testimony, Sue confirmed that she met Ng at a social gathering at a pub in Tanjong Pagar in 2009 when she was still with Sun Microsystems. She said about a couple of months after the end of a strong first quarter for her in 2011, she had a “celebratory” lunch with Ng wherein she talked about the deals she had closed, including the storage area network with CNB. Prosecution lawyer Tan Ken Hwee asked her, “Did the accused ask you for anything?” Sue said, “We chatted… then he asked, ‘When you wanna take me?’” Tan, “What does that mean to you?” “It’s pretty common knowledge… to take in… his sperm,” she replied. After some more questions, Tan asked, “Did you think there was any linkage between the fact that you were celebrating deals and the question that the accused asked you?” After a pause, she said she did not know. The testimony then focused on events in July 2011. Sue said when she and Ng met up then, it was supposed to be in Capella but the location changed to Wilford. However, as she didn’t like it there they moved to Capella. After a few hours, she drove him back to Beaufort (hotel) to collect his car. “What happened next?” Tan asked. “We chatted in the car… and then… all of a sudden he pushed my head down to his private part and he shoved his private part into my mouth,” Sue said, her voice breaking. “I was very shocked. I… I tried to… tried to push away,” she said. “I mean I didn’t continue and after I pushed away I told him off and he apologized.” After the prosecutor asked her to explain how they were seated in her car, Sue explained she was at the driver’s seat and Ng was in the passenger’s seat. “Did he push or did he pull?” Tan asked. “He forced my head down,” she replied. “Was there contact between your private part and your mouth?” the lawyer asked. “It happened so fast that yes there was contact…” she replied. “Why did you let him do that?” he asked her. “It was too sudden and I was caught in shock… I told him off and he apologized,” she said, adding she felt unhappy, fearful and intimidated. The testimony then moved on to Sue’s and Ng’s meeting in November 2011, though not before Sue admitted that between July and November they had casual meet ups. “Why did you agree to meet up with him in November?” Tan asked. “I think casual lunch, I’m okay to meet up… but chalet and trips, I’m not comfortable at all because there’s no agenda for me to be there,” she said, after saying she had declined Ng’s invitations for her to join him at his Kranji chalet and go on a trip to Macau. When Sue met Ng in November, he was having dinner at HortPark, she joined him. While he was eating, she said he asked her to access a website. “I didn’t know it was a sexually… a porno website,” she said, adding that she felt disgusted. After they went back to the car, he started to talk about porno sites and how she felt. She could see he was getting hard. She said he tried to kiss her and that he pushed her head down to his private part. “I… I… tried to escape,” she said. When asked how, she said she tried to push herself away “but the private part got in my mouth as well.” She said he was very strong and it was a while after she managed to get out. “Did you consider reporting him?” Tan asked. “It wouldn’t help… and it’s such a disgrace, right? Recently with all the publicity it’s already been killing me,” she said, as she broke down in tears. “I don’t want to hurt my family,” she said, her voice shaking. “And moreover he’s well connected.” On 2 December, Sue, who had just joined tech giant Oracle, said she met Ng again for dinner, and she told him that there could be an opportunity in Oracle’s Policy Automation software. She was supposed to drop him off after dinner but he directed her to Mount Faber and suggested a short chat. They were chatting, she said, when again she said he tried to push her towards his private part and she tried to break away. She asked him to respect her and he told her he would not do it again. “I thought as a gentleman he would also understand my feelings… and not push further,” she said. “I mean the thing is that if there’s really love I would have done it voluntarily….” Sue pointed out that Ng was a well-connected and high ranking officer while she was just a “normal sales rep and just working hard for my family”. Crying, she also said she did not want to be in a situation “whereby I get framed or I don’t want to end up in a situation whereby I get jeopordsied… in my home team. Simple words like ‘Watch out for this sales rep” can be very detrimental”. Using tissue paper to wipe away her tears, the witness also added, “When someone is so well connected not only can he influence things within the agency, you never know if he can also tarnish my reputation…” The prosecution then prodded Sue to discuss the night of 9 December when she met with Ng again. She was out with friends and he asked if she would want to meet up for a while at Singapore General Hospital’s car park. She drove over there and waited for some time before he appeared and hopped into her car, she said. She recounted that he then pulled down his pants and grabbed her hand to stroke him. After a few more questions by Tan, Ng’s defence counsel and the prosecutor argued over the statements made in court. The defence noted that the witness could be accused later on. Court went into recess after it was decided that the defence and prosecution needed to discuss something in the judge’s chambers. During that time, members of Ng’s family looked on edge. Court soon resumed but it was suggested that proceedings be continued on Thursday, to which the judge agreed. Ms Sue will take the stand again on tomorrow. In the morning hearing, Oracle’s managing director Mr Ong continuing his testimony from yesterday told the court that Ms Sue was in charge of servicing the CNB account. Under defence counsel Tan’s cross-examination, the court heard that the company had no plans to engage CNB from FY2012 to FY2014, as no business was contemplated with CNB for that period. During the cross-examination, Mr Ong said Ms Sue was aware that in terms of potential business with CNB, there was nothing in the pipeline in the next three years. He said Ms Sue was just following the protocol in mapping out and ranking the top officials of the agencies under the Home Affairs Ministry. Defence counsel Tan also touched on the compliance of the code of ethics at Oracle. To that, Mr Ong said there are strict policies against corrupt practices and that all employees are expected to complete a course on ethics online.
