This Colonel is going to jail...
And, you thought all officers were cream of the crop?
Firms say bids used by SAF officer were
fakes
Two companies insisted they never
knew about repair projects, and their supposed quotations were on
outdated letterheads
By Elena Chong
A SINGAPORE Armed Forces lieutenant-colonel went on trial yesterday
for trying to deceive the SAF by submitting fake quotations for
repair works, prepared by a maintenance contractor.
Facing 10 charges, Lt-Col Ong is accused of using false documents
to mislead the SAF. -- STEVEN LEE
The contractor, Ong Chye Tab, was sentenced to a year's jail two
months ago for corruption.
The man said to be his partner in the scam, Lt-Col Ong Beng Leong,
43, is accused of knowingly using false bids from Precise
Development and Gin Huat Company for repair works in the training
areas under his command in Lim Chu Kang.
Yesterday, the bosses of Precise Development and Gin Huat told the
court that they had neither submitted the bids nor even known about
the projects, totalling about $174,000.
The bids were made on outdated letterheads they had stopped using
years ago.
The lieutenant-colonel, who faces 10 charges of using false
documents to mislead the SAF, was the commanding officer of the
Training Resource Management Centre when the offences were
allegedly committed between January and February 2001.
Fifty-seven other similar charges have been stood down.
Under SAF rules, three independent quotations were required before
the accused could approve any maintenance works.
Yesterday, Mr Neo Wee Beng, 48, a partner of Gin Huat, said the
invoices that were supposedly submitted by his company for site and
track improvement works amounting to $52,450 were on letterheads
the company had not used in 10 years.
In fact, Gin Huat was involved only in the rental of heavy
equipment in 2001.
Similarly, the managing director for Precise Development, Mr Peh
Soon Li, 47, said that his company's letterheads have all borne an
ISO logo since 1996.
None of the bids that his company had supposedly submitted bore
such a logo.
Mr Peh also said that his company's dealings with SAF in 2001
involved contracts above $1 million, and the company would not take
part in projects worth less than $20,000.
Both men said they had not authorised Ong Chye Tab, 62, who was the
sole proprietor of Sin Hiaptat Construction, to use their companies
or letterheads to submit the quotations.
Later, the contractor's former secretary, Khoo Swee Im, 52, who was
jailed four months for forgery in September, took the stand to
testify that she had prepared the documents.
Ong Chye Tab will take the stand today when the trial continues
before district judge Toh Yung Cheong.
