Former ST Marine execs in corruption scandal to face 1,744 additional charges

Former ST Marine executives Mok Kim Whang, Tan Mong Seng and Han Yew Kwang appeared in court on Wednesday for allegedly making thousands of entries for petty cash for over SGD6.5m in entertainment expenses that never actually took place.

Mok, formerly ST Marine senior vice-president originally charged with one count of corruption for SGD43,721 is facing an additional 826 charges SGD3.14m in fraudulent claims.

Tan, formerly ST Marine president of commercial business, had also been charged previously with one count of corruption for SGD43,721 now faces 445 charges related to fraudulent expenses claims of over SGD1.61m.

Meanwhile Han, former ST Marine coo, who already faced eight counts of corruption involving the sum of SGD790,772 has additional 472 charges relating to SGD1.86m in fraudulent expense claims.

Bail for all three was increased SGD200,000 on Wednesday and pre-trial conference has been set for 20 January.

For each charge of falsification of accounts there is a maximum of 10 years in jail, a fine, or both.

Singapore Technolgies Engineering (ST Engineering) parent of ST Marine, said in statement that "ST Marine has been extending its fullest cooperation to the CPIB (Corrupt Practisces Investigation Bureau) in its investigation since 2011"

It added; "The additional charges against Han, Tan and Mok are not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets or consolidated earnings per share of the ST Engineering Group for the current financial year.

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