Fullerton Health ex-director to plead not guilty as corruption case against co-founders moves to trial

DANIEL Chan, former director of Fullerton Healthcare Corporation (Fullerton Health), is claiming trial on charges related to corruption and falsifying or conspiring to falsify nearly half a million dollars in entertainment claims to defraud the company.

Alongside fellow Fullerton Health co-founders David Sin and Michael Tan, Chan is alleged to have committed these offences to provide bribes and other forms of gratification to Collin Chiew, former chief executive of insurance broker Aon Risk Solutions in Singapore.

Chan faces 13 charges in total. The prosecution intends to proceed with four, while the other nine will be taken into consideration during sentencing, the court heard on Monday (Mar 11).

Chan, who was present in court, applied to leave jurisdiction from Mar 12 to May 31 for multiple work trips to Manila, the Philippines. He previously applied to travel in February for the same reason.

His application was granted, with bail set at S$100,000. His total bail amount is S$300,000.

Chan’s case was heard alongside Chiew’s, whose attendance was dispensed with. Chan is represented by K&L Gates Straits Law, while Chiew’s counsel is Andy Yeo of Eldan Law.

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Both Chan and Chiew will be back in court on Apr 8 for a pre-trial conference.

Meanwhile, Chan’s two co-accused – former Fullerton Health president and deputy chairman David Sin and ex-director Michael Tan – have pre-trial conferences scheduled on Apr 12.

Chan, Sin and Tan were previously in court on Feb 7 to have their charges read to them.

Like Chan, Sin also faces 13 charges, while Tan has five.

Charge sheets indicated that the trio, then owners of Fullerton Health, conspired to give gratification totalling S$668,000 to Chiew over several occasions between 2015 and 2019.

These were allegedly provided as inducements to advance the business interests of Fullerton Health with Aon Singapore and later with AIA Hong Kong, a company in which Chiew was director of corporate solutions agency.

The other eight charges are related to Chan falsifying entertainment claims to defraud Fullerton Health into paying him S$440,666 for entertainment expenses when the amount actually incurred was just under S$170,000. Chan allegedly used the amounts claimed to pay bribes to Chiew.

Tan and Sin face one count and eight counts, respectively, for allegedly conspiring with Chan to falsify accounts.

Chiew, meanwhile, faces six charges for allegedly receiving these bribes and gratification from Fullerton Health’s former owners, as well as a money-laundering charge for using criminal proceeds to pay for a landed property at Bedok Terrace.

Sin, previously the majority shareholder of Fullerton Health, used to be credited with transforming Fullerton Health into a pan-Asian healthcare provider from a Singapore-centric company, alongside then minority owners Chan and Tan.

After a shelved plan to go public, the trio intended to sell Fullerton Healthcare, but friction and differences in how the sale should be executed – amid rumours of financial strain – appeared to have blown any potential sale.

According to a source, Fullerton Health is now owned by its largest creditor, RRJ Capital, a Hong Kong-based private equity fund.