An insurance agent and two others were charged for allegedly bribing an official of the Indonesian embassy in Singapore.
Yeo Siew Liang James, an agent for AIG Asia Pacific Insurance and Liberty Insurance, was charged with eight counts of corruption, after allegedly bribing Indonesian embassy official Agus Ramdhany Machjumi with around SG$71,200, reported Channel News Asia. The bribe was reportedly meant to favour the two insurers in accrediting them as providers of performance bonds for Indonesian maids in Singapore.
Yeo was also charged with giving an accomplice, Abdul Aziz Mohamed Hanib, around SG$21,400 as a reward for contacting and arranging the deal with the embassy official.
Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz was also charged by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) for trying to solicit bribes from two representatives of Tokio Marine Insurance Singapore. The third person charged, Chow Tuck Keong Benjamin, allegedly abetted Abdul Aziz to facilitate the bribe and introduced him to Yeo.
According to the CPIB, there was no evidence showing that AIG Asia Pacific Insurance and Liberty Insurance, as well as the Indonesian embassy, were complicit in the corruption offences.
The court offered bail of SG$50,000 each for Yeo and Abdul Aziz, as well as SG$10,000 for Chow. The three are set to be tried in December.
A conviction for corruption carries a prison term of up to five years, a fine of up to SG$100,000, or both.
