26 March 2012. Peter Lim Sin Pang on his first day on the stand, yesterday, told the court that it was Ms Pang Chor Mui, former general manager of Nimrod Engineering, who initiated the oral sex encounter between them. Before that she had sent him suggestive text messages and offered to become his girlfriend.
On their fourth lunch meeting at Crystal Jade restaurant she turned up in a “dudou” (an apron-like Chinese undergarment) and said that she was not having anything underneath the “dudou”. After the lunch when he was waiting for his driver to pick him up she allegedly grabbed his arm and held it close to her body. She then said that she wanted to have sex with him. Then Lim just replied that he had to return to this office.
Lim said that at the time he was confused because he was not ready to enter into a relationship with Ms Pang and at the same time he did not want to reject her because she was a good friend.
On the day of the sexual encounter, Mr. Lim said that he had attended a wedding dinner and had consumed alcohol. Usually his friends drove him home whenever he consumed alcohol at dinners. Ms Pang had earlier offered to drive him home whenever he drank alcohol at dinners. That day decided to ask her to drive him to his condominium home at Tanjong Rhu. The drive took about 20 minutes and Ms Pang was talking all the way. They continued to chat after they reached the condominium. Mr. Lim said that he didn’t want his neighbours or friends to think that he was talking to a woman in a car at the middle of the night. So he directed her to the car park outside Singapore Indoor Stadium where they could keep talking. At the secluded car park Ms Pang squeezed his hands and he in turn squeezed hers. This was followed by kissing and hugging. Ms Pang whispered to him and told him to pull down his trousers. The sex act was stopped shortly after as he was not aroused, he said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) who cross examined Lim in the afternoon maintained that the former is SCDF chief was the one in control of the situation when he asked Ms Pang to drive him to the stadium car park.
Lim had made a phone call to Ms Pang to ask if her company had radiation portal monitors. Lim said that this was not for her sake or for the sake of Nimrod. This was for the sake of this SCDF. Other suppliers were also similarly approached.
Prosecution challenged that a closed tender would have exposed the SCDF’s lack of readiness. Hence Lim chose an open tender process. To this, Lim replied by saying that he was a dedicated man who believed in leading by example. When the need for radiation equipment arose after the 2011 Japan nuclear crisis he felt the need to step in as commissioner to ensure the items were acquired.
In a reply to a question posed by the prosecution he said that his role in the procurement process was at the end, after at least four levels of clearance. The bid would be almost “a finished product” by the time it reached him he said.
Today, Lim, taking the stand for the second day, was cross-examined by the DPP. The DPP has been trying to show that Lim has been inconsistent in his testimony to the court. The DPP disputed Lim’s claim that he and Ms Pang were close friends by pointing out that they had not met each other after the sexual encounter in 2010 until January 2012, when they met at the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau(CPIB). Lim replied that they were busy and their schedules did not match. The DPP also found Lim “evasive” in answering questions about the amount of alcohol he had consumed and whether he was in control in the car or whatever happened that night of the oral sex incident.
When asked why he did not resist Ms Pang’s sexual advances when they met for lunch or reinforce point that he was married then she sent him suggestive text messages. Lim, in reply said that he did not want to hurt her.
This morning Lim told the court that he did not trust his officers because they were too slow. But later under cross examination he said that his role and as commissioner was just to endorse the winning bids after they have gone through a transparent, open and fair procurement process administered by officers whom he trusted. Responding to this, the Deputy Public Prosecutor asked if this meant Lim was admitting to be just a rubber stamp. Lim replied: “Almost”. DPP will continue his cross examination in the afternoon.
