Ex-NSman guilty of graft
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FORMER full-time national serviceman Ee Jin Liang was convicted on Wednesday of two graft charges and one charge under the Customs Act for accepting contraband cigarettes as bribes from members of the Indonesian navy last year.
The court heard that in return for the bribes, Ee, now 23, who was a driver, transported illegal cigarettes from Changi Naval Base to the carpark outside the base where a Singapore syndicate waited to pick up the goods.
The total amount of excise duty and GST unpaid for these cigarettes totalled over $3 million, while Ee received at least $1,974 worth of cigarettes for doing the job.
A district court heard that Ee was assigned to Indonesian navy personnel to handle their transportation needs.
Last August, Ee and his colleague Ang Zi Heng, who both held the rank of a lance-corporal, were assigned to the Indonesian navy which were here for a meeting at Changi Naval Base.
On the second night of their duty, Indonesian navy personnel started loading cartons of contraband cigarettes onto the minibus that Ee and Ang were driving. Both were then directed to drive the minibus to a carpark outside the base.
There, the cartons were unloaded from the minibus onto waiting lorries. In all, six trips were made. After the transfer, an Indonesian navy officer gave a black trash back containing about 20 cartons of the cigarettes to Ee and Ang in return for their help. Ang took about 13 cartons while Ee took the rest.
Ang, who faced only one charge, was sentenced to 16 months' jail in March for his role in the incident. Ee, however, continued to help transport the contraband cigarettes.
In October, Ee and a navy recruit were the assigned drivers to the Indonesian navy again. Except this time, the Indonesians asked them for a larger vehicle as they had more boxes to transport.
For doing this job, Ee received 20 cartons of contraband cigarettes and a chest of tea.
Two months later, Ee's luck ran out when he was again asked to transport boxes containing cigarettes out of Changi Naval Base by the Indonesians.
He was arrested, along with five syndicate members, when he was about to make his third trip out of the camp.
He will be sentenced next Wednesday. For the Customs charge, he faces a fine of up to 20 times the duty and taxes evaded or jail of up to three years or both. For the corruption charges, he faces a maximum of five years' jail and a fine of $100,000.
--ST
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so wat happened to the Indonesian Navy officer?
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for 1.7k nia...
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Huh, he did so much, for that amount of cigarettes?!?! My asking price would be like $50K, 50% as downpayment.
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Originally posted by croco2006:
so wat happened to the Indonesian Navy officer?
I think he might have been promoted and transfered to Covert Ops.
An officer,some more a foreigner.Cannot touch lah,got immunity.Later we offend Indonesia then how?Easier to punish our own then go after their guys.Don't forget their army is so much bigger.
They know enough of our laws to dare to do it and smart enough to utilize our poor NSFs.
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you see we should have hired this guy to be in the spook business. We would have gotten ground intel....: )
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see....this is what happen when MIWs said that if civil serpents are paid low there will be corruption...NSFs involved have proven the facts...
then y dun they up NSFs' pay in the first place? -
Ex-NSman jailed over smuggling
A FORMER NSman, who helped some members of the Indonesian navy smuggle a large cache of contraband cigarettes, was jailed for four years and five months by a district court on Wednesday.
Ee Jin Liang, 23, then a lance corporal (LCP) at the Tuas Naval Base, appeared stunned when sentence was passed.
Senior District Judge Tan Siong Thye said while the jail term may seem harsh for a first offender like Eem, it serves as a deterrent to others.
'If not deterred, some other national serviceman could be bribed to look the other way,' he said.
'We can ill afford such security compromise in today's context as terrorism is very real and terrorists will exploit security lapses and cause massive public mayhem and destruction of human lives and property.'
The judge also pointed out that the amount of contraband involved was one of the highest to have come before the courts.
Excise duty and goods and services tax (GST) unpaid on these cigarettes came up to more than $3 million.
Ee had pleaded guilty last Thursday.
He was assigned to ferry the Indonesian personnel who were here for meetings with the Singapore Navy at the Changi Naval Base.
It was during these meetings that Ee helped the Indonesians move the contraband out of the base.
Investigations revealed that the Indonesians were in cahoots with a syndicate here that sold the smuggled cigarettes locally.
--ST
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Originally posted by ditzy:
Huh, he did so much, for that amount of cigarettes?!?! My asking price would be like $50K, 50% as downpayment.
it's the stupid ones that get caught mah ....
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Just curious.
People like him, do they still need to go back for reservist?
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Originally posted by charlize:
Just curious.
People like him, do they still need to go back for reservist?
reservist?
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Originally posted by charlize:
Just curious.
People like him, do they still need to go back for reservist?
they get recruited into the Intel Corp..... share share. -
A few cartons of ciggies, and some teh..... for helping to move a large consignment of cigarettes whose duty and taxes is worth $3 million.
That is one seriously low level of renumeration.
At least, it certainly wasn't worth risking five years' jail for it.
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lol...
there is never a lack in supply of peons n dumb people to do the jobs.