ST Marine's former financial controller fined S$300,000

THE former Singapore Technologies Marine (ST Marine) financial controller and senior vice-president, Ong Teck Liam, has been fined S$300,000.

She would be jailed for 30 weeks if she fails to pay the fine.

Ong pleaded guilty on Feb 19, 2016 to 10 charges under section 477A of the Penal Code for conspiring with four other senior executives to facilitate the payment of bribes - totalling S$48,887 - to employees of ST Marine's customers.

Another 108 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. She was the last of seven former ST Marine senior executives to be convicted.

ST Marine is a unit of Singapore-listed Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering). The investigations by Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) into certain transactions involving ST Marine's former and current employees began in 2011.

Between 2000 and 2011, the seven were involved in a scheme which used "entertainment expenses" to cover up at least S$24.9 million in bribes in one of the biggest corruption scandals in Singapore, court documents showed.

"ST Engineering is committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and recognises that fraud is detrimental to the reputation of the ST Engineering group," the group said on Monday.

"ST Engineering does not condone fraud, including corruption and bribery, and is fully committed to proactively mitigating the risk of its occurrence."