POLICE officeers who bribe other officers are just as harmful as
those who take kickbacks from the public, the High Court has
made clear.
Judge of Appeal V.K. Rajah made this point to explain why he
trebled the jail sentence of a police sergeant convicted of
corruption.
Elvilin Tay, 36, found a stack of cash during an unauthorised
raid, then passed $50 each to four colleagues to entice them not to
report him to their superiors.
The judge increased his six-month sentence to 1 1/2 years in
April last year.
In his grounds for judgment released on Monday, he said the fact
that the public was not involved did not make it any less serious.
"Indeed, if anything, it is even more disturbing," he wrote.
The judge stressed that both situations "have the effect of
publicly undermining the integrity of the police force".
Tay found the cash during a raid in 2009 on illegal immigrants
in Seletar.
After passing them money, he told his four colleagues not to
tell anyone. A fifth officer rejected his offer. A carton of
cigarettes seized during the raid was given to another officer as a
birthday present.
Tay was found guilty last year and sentenced to six months in
jail by a district judge. At the time, prosecutors Tan Kiat Pheng
and Christine Liu argued that the sentence was too light.
But the lower court found that the officers' conduct was not as
serious as that of police officers who are convicted of helping
massage-parlour owners, illegal moneylenders and importers of
undeclared goods escape prosecution.
Justice Rajah disagreed. He said in his grounds for judgment
that Tay's motive in bribing the other officers was to keep them
quiet and ensure his own crime, of keeping the items found in the
raid, would not be discovered.
"More importantly, the serious adverse impact of (his) conduct
in drawing his fellow police officers into this 'web of
corruption' cannot be underestimated."
The judge cited the similar stand taken in such cases in other
places such as Britain, Australia and Hong Kong. "They usually come
down hard on corruption in law-enforcement agencies such as the
police force," he wrote.
"These sentences reflect society's particular condemnation for
such offences, which, if left unchecked, could corrode the
integrity and high standing of the police force."
The police said yesterday they had taken appropriate action
against four of Tay's colleagues. Action is being taken against a
fifth by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.
(Taken from The Straits Times, Friday, June 10 2011, Page
C14)