SINGAPORE: A former analyst with the Immigration and
Checkpoints Authority (ICA) was sentenced to two months'
imprisonment and fined $9,000 for corruption and unauthorised use
of computer data.
Ng Chun Wei, 35, was also made to pay a penalty of
$700 for accepting the bribe.
Ng, who was with the ICA's Border Watch Unit, had
accepted $500 to facilitate citizen applications, as well as for
performing unauthorised computer searches on the status of those
applications.
His accomplice, part-time musician Tan Poh Guan, 54, was sentenced
to two-and-a-half months' jail for abetting the crime, as well as
for giving false information to an investigation officer when
questioned about the case.
The court heard that Tan had linked Ng up with a Mr Mohamed Saif
Mohamed Salleh who needed help with the citizenship applications
for his two children.
Mr Mohamed Saif was married to a Filipino national, and had already
failed in getting the citizenship applications approved on his
first attempt.
Tan told Ng that Mr Mohamed Saif would be willing to pay a fee in
return for the latter's help.
The trio then met at a coffeeshop in Chinatown Point sometime in
November 2010, where Ng told Mr Mohamed Saif that he would
facilitate the applications for a $1,500 fee.
Ng added that there was a 70 to 80 per cent chance that the
applications would be successful and that he would return the money
if they were not.
Mr Mohamed Saif then handed over $500 as an initial payment, and
agreed to pay the remaining $1,000 once the applications had been
approved.
Ng then accompanied Mr Mohamed Saif to the ICA building on two
occasions to make the applications.
Investigations revealed that Ng later accessed the ICA's computer
system three times in December 2010 to check on the status of the
applications, even though he did not have the authority to do
so.
Before his posting to the Border Watch Unit, Ng had been attached
to the Citizen Service Centre - the department which processes
applications for Singapore citizenship.
In meting out Ng's sentence, District Judge Eugene Teo said that
while Ng was a first-time offender, he had abused his position. He
urged Ng to make good on his promise not to re-offend after serving
his sentence.
- CNA/de