Ex-MOM officer jailed

Ex-MOM officer jailed


Law Boon Seng, 32, pleaded guilty to four charges of accepting $1,500 each time from subcontractor Yeo Eng Kiat to tip him off on impending raids by the ministry in 2006. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

A FORMER Ministry of Manpower (MOM) officer was sentenced to 14 months in jail and ordered to pay a penalty of $24,500 for corruption on Thursday.

Law Boon Seng, 32, then an employment inspector, pleaded guilty to four charges of accepting $1,500 each time from subcontractor Yeo Eng Kiat to tip him off on impending raids by the ministry in 2006.

Another 17 similar charges involving $18,500 were considered during his sentencing.

Law was allowed to start sentence on Jan 29 so that he could spend Chinese New Year with his family.

His job as a group leader of MOM's Foreign Manpower (Employment Inspectorate) Department then entailed overseeing foreign workers in Singapore.

He was arrested following an operation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in January 2007 on an illegal labour supplying syndicate giving bribes to the department officers for helping the racket evade detection and arrest during the officers' inspections.

A district court heard that he agreed to the proposal to give tip-offs on MOM raids as he needed money for his family.

He could have been fined up to $100,000 and/or jailed for up to five years on each corruption charge.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_326437.html