Leong Chee Shian and Chuah Hooi Fong
10 February 2021
1Malaysian Chuah Hooi Fong, 59, was on Tuesday (Feb 9) sentenced to 16 months’ jail for her role in a business arrangement which enabled her associate receive nearly $500,000 in bribes between 2008 and 2012.
Previously, she pleaded guilty to four counts of giving bribes to Leong Chee Shian, 50, a former IT director of logistics company, Schenker (Asia Pacific). The purpose was to enrich two companies of which she was a director and shareholder.
Chuah came to know Leong in 2007 while she was a sales director in Saperion, a company dealing with software. At that time Leong was implementing a project for the digitization of Schenker’s records. Leong used Saperion’s software for the project.
Chuah left Saperion in 2008. After that she agreed to handle the management and implementation of the digitization project for Schenker through Asia Management Link (AML), a company which she is the sole director and shareholder of.
In 2010, Chuah proposed a second project for Schenker. The project was to better manage the company’s printing requirements. She implemented the project through another company, AML Managed Services, of which she was a shareholder. For this project Chua selected Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Konica) to provide the printers. Under the contract, Schenker had to pay Konica a service fee for each page printed. In her deal with Konica, the latter was to pay a service fee to AML Managed Services. But the service fee was in fact inflated, with the mark-up intended to go to Leong. This was part of an arrangement made between Chuah and Leong in 2008, where he would be paid a share of profits earned by AML and AML Managed Services from the two projects.
Court documents state that Chuah paid a total of $484,289.30 in bribes to Leong under the arrangement. In order to disguise the corrupt payments, Leong arranged for the sums to be paid to three companies, of which his brother was the director, as consultancy fees. The money was later transferred to him.
Leong, a Singaporean, employed by Schenker (Asia Pacific) was charged in September 2016 with obtaining bribes amounting to $238,243 from Chuah Hooi Fong, as an inducement to advance the business interest of Asia Management Link and AML Managed Services with Schenker.
Leong is also accused of attempting to get bribes amounting to $246,046 from Chuah between Dec 16, 2011 and Oct 15, 2012.
Leong also faces 17 counts of abetment by conspiring with one Leong Chee How to raise false invoices and payment vouchers in the account of 361 Degree Consultancy, 361 Degree Management and 361 Degree Communication, for consultancy services. But these companies did not provide any services.
Leong Chee Shian used the bribe money to make down payments for a car and buy a condominium unit in Geylang. His case is still pending.
Straits Times reported.
