SINGAPORE: A former Huawei account director who gave bribes, including a trip to Paris worth more than S$18,000 (US$14,000), was sentenced to five months and two weeks' jail on Tuesday (Jan 27).
Peng Ming, a Singaporean, conspired with a director in another information technology firm to bribe an engineer in national health technology agency Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) in 2022.
To secure Huawei's sponsorship for the trip to the French capital, Peng deceived the company about the positions of the engineer and his wife, claiming that they were both IHiS directors.
Earlier in 2021, he bribed an assistant lead engineer at IHiS over drinks on five occasions and obtained internal contact details of key IT managers from this man.
Peng, now 40, pleaded guilty to two charges of corruption on Monday, and three other charges were considered in sentencing.
He is the last of the trio in the Paris trip to be dealt with, after his co-conspirator Chiang Chee Seng and the recipient of the bribes Ng Kah Siang.
Ng, 37, was earlier sentenced to five months and two weeks' jail while Chiang, 50, received 11 weeks' imprisonment.
IHiS, now known as Synapxe, was the national agency supporting the technology needs of the public healthcare sector and a subsidiary of MOH Holdings.
At Huawei, Peng was an account director in charge of Singapore's healthcare sector. His team was responsible for selling certain products and he was in charge of setting their business strategy.
He earned a commission if he hit his sales targets, and incentives if he secured contracts of significant value that could be used as a "reference case" for future clients, the prosecution said.
Ng, the recipient of the bribes, was part of IHiS' project team that facilitated procurement and was in charge of contracts with vendors.
Chiang was a senior sales director of publicly listed Nera Telecommunications, which was one of Huawei's preferred system integrators, Peng said.
In November 2021, Peng learnt that IHiS was going to renew its master contract for certain network equipment purchases and maintenance services in a "term deal". At the time, IHiS' supplier was Cisco, Huawei's competitor.
Peng estimated the value of the term deal to be at least S$10 million a year. The initial term was three years and could be extended for two years at a time.
Ng was assigned to be IHiS' project manager for the term deal around November 2021 and Peng came to know Ng around this time. Peng also knew that Ng was involved in drafting the tender specifications.
During a meeting, Ng asked Peng what Peng could do for him if he helped Huawei to be included in the upcoming IHiS tender requirements.
Peng asked what figure he was looking at and Ng said S$20,000. Peng did not accept this request.
Peng then suggested that Ng relax the criteria in the tender specifications so that less established system integrators could bid.
He also suggested that Ng link up with system integrators who would be able to support the figure he was demanding, in exchange for help to be included in the upcoming tender requirements.
Later, Peng offered to organise a trip for Ng to visit Huawei's laboratory in Singapore so that he could better understand the company's capabilities.
Ng instead asked Peng to sponsor him and his wife for an overseas trip to Europe, first choosing Rome in Italy then changing his mind to Paris. Peng agreed.
Peng discussed this with Chiang, who was interested in joining them on the trip because he wanted to increase Nera's chances of being the system integrator for the term deal.
Both men saw IHiS as an important client since it handled the technological needs of Singapore's whole public healthcare sector and held more potential for vendors such as Huawei and Nera, given the size of funds available for IT infrastructure.
In 2021, Peng bribed an assistant lead engineer at IHiS, Ding Wenjie, by paying for entertainment worth around S$1,500 when they met for drinks on five occasions.
He kept Ding close to get the internal contact details of important personnel who managed the digital side of IHiS, since these were areas where Huawei could provide IT infrastructure.
In April 2022, Ding forwarded to Peng an internal IHiS email about changes to its organisational structure, which were valuable to Peng because he could then reach out to the important personnel to network.
He could entertain them such as through drinking sessions that he would pay for, so as to "get into their good books and advance Huawei's business interests", the prosecution said.
Ding's case is still pending and he has not been charged, the prosecution said
Nine people eventually went on the trip to Paris in March 2022: Ng and his wife; Peng, his girlfriend and her two children; and Chiang, his wife and their son.
Peng and Chiang did not want to personally bear the costs of Ng and his wife's travel expenses, so they agreed to falsely declare to their companies that Ng's wife was an IHiS employee.
In February 2022, Peng submitted a business proposal to Huawei's management that recommended the Paris trip to deepen the business relationship between Huawei and IHiS and to build trust to enter the shortlist for the contract.
To get approval, Peng falsely listed Ng and Ng's wife as directors of IHiS. Peng knew Huawei would not allow him to take a client’s spouse on a trip otherwise.
Huawei's management approved the business proposal on the basis of Peng's claims.
Chiang submitted a similar request to his superiors to use joint marketing funds by Huawei and Nera for the trip.
After the trip, Peng and Chiang claimed travel expenses totalling more than S$63,000, of which more than S$18,000 was incurred by Ng and his wife.
The sum included payments for flights, hotels, tickets for a football match, as well as food and tour attractions.
On Mar 31, 2022, Ng sent Peng a screenshot of the amended tender specification documents he was drafting.
Peng understood Ng's messages to mean that he had relaxed the criteria, so that the two reference cases – which system integrator vendors had to provide for the tender – need not be in the healthcare sector.
Peng knew that Ng did this after his suggestion to seek bribes from the less established system integrator vendors.
After returning from the trip to Paris, Peng contacted Ng to ask for the tender form for the term deal, saying he wanted to prepare early so he stood a better chance.
On May 10, 2022, before the specifications were to be published later that week, Ng met Chiang at a coffee shop and handed him the entire bundle of confidential tender documents on a thumb drive.
Chiang met Peng later that day and transferred the contents of the thumb drive to him.
The Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau received information on the corruption and arrested the trio on May 11, 2022.
Peng has voluntarily paid back the costs of the Paris trip and entertainment as restitution to CPIB.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Eugene Phua and Andre Ong sought five to seven months' jail for Peng.
They described Peng as the main giver of the bribe and also the one who called in the favour when he asked for the tender form.
They said that his culpability was "very close to that of (Ng) and clearly higher than Chiang".
Peng's lawyer Samuel Seow sought no more than four months' jail, arguing that the effect on fair competition in the tender was minimal.
He argued that Huawei and Nera were in a leading position to win the term deal even without Peng's actions, since they were among the vendors who won when the tender was called again after the corruption had come under investigation.
Peng could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to S$100,000 for each charge of corruption.
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Peng Ming, a Singaporean, conspired with a director in another information technology firm to bribe an engineer in national health technology agency Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) in 2022.
To secure Huawei's sponsorship for the trip to the French capital, Peng deceived the company about the positions of the engineer and his wife, claiming that they were both IHiS directors.
Earlier in 2021, he bribed an assistant lead engineer at IHiS over drinks on five occasions and obtained internal contact details of key IT managers from this man.
Peng, now 40, pleaded guilty to two charges of corruption on Monday, and three other charges were considered in sentencing.
He is the last of the trio in the Paris trip to be dealt with, after his co-conspirator Chiang Chee Seng and the recipient of the bribes Ng Kah Siang.
Ng, 37, was earlier sentenced to five months and two weeks' jail while Chiang, 50, received 11 weeks' imprisonment.
TERM DEAL
IHiS, now known as Synapxe, was the national agency supporting the technology needs of the public healthcare sector and a subsidiary of MOH Holdings.
At Huawei, Peng was an account director in charge of Singapore's healthcare sector. His team was responsible for selling certain products and he was in charge of setting their business strategy.
He earned a commission if he hit his sales targets, and incentives if he secured contracts of significant value that could be used as a "reference case" for future clients, the prosecution said.
Ng, the recipient of the bribes, was part of IHiS' project team that facilitated procurement and was in charge of contracts with vendors.
Chiang was a senior sales director of publicly listed Nera Telecommunications, which was one of Huawei's preferred system integrators, Peng said.
In November 2021, Peng learnt that IHiS was going to renew its master contract for certain network equipment purchases and maintenance services in a "term deal". At the time, IHiS' supplier was Cisco, Huawei's competitor.
Peng estimated the value of the term deal to be at least S$10 million a year. The initial term was three years and could be extended for two years at a time.
PLAN TO BRIBE
Ng was assigned to be IHiS' project manager for the term deal around November 2021 and Peng came to know Ng around this time. Peng also knew that Ng was involved in drafting the tender specifications.
During a meeting, Ng asked Peng what Peng could do for him if he helped Huawei to be included in the upcoming IHiS tender requirements.
Peng asked what figure he was looking at and Ng said S$20,000. Peng did not accept this request.
Peng then suggested that Ng relax the criteria in the tender specifications so that less established system integrators could bid.
He also suggested that Ng link up with system integrators who would be able to support the figure he was demanding, in exchange for help to be included in the upcoming tender requirements.
Later, Peng offered to organise a trip for Ng to visit Huawei's laboratory in Singapore so that he could better understand the company's capabilities.
Ng instead asked Peng to sponsor him and his wife for an overseas trip to Europe, first choosing Rome in Italy then changing his mind to Paris. Peng agreed.
Peng discussed this with Chiang, who was interested in joining them on the trip because he wanted to increase Nera's chances of being the system integrator for the term deal.
Both men saw IHiS as an important client since it handled the technological needs of Singapore's whole public healthcare sector and held more potential for vendors such as Huawei and Nera, given the size of funds available for IT infrastructure.
In 2021, Peng bribed an assistant lead engineer at IHiS, Ding Wenjie, by paying for entertainment worth around S$1,500 when they met for drinks on five occasions.
He kept Ding close to get the internal contact details of important personnel who managed the digital side of IHiS, since these were areas where Huawei could provide IT infrastructure.
In April 2022, Ding forwarded to Peng an internal IHiS email about changes to its organisational structure, which were valuable to Peng because he could then reach out to the important personnel to network.
He could entertain them such as through drinking sessions that he would pay for, so as to "get into their good books and advance Huawei's business interests", the prosecution said.
Ding's case is still pending and he has not been charged, the prosecution said
ALL-EXPENSES-PAID TRIP
Nine people eventually went on the trip to Paris in March 2022: Ng and his wife; Peng, his girlfriend and her two children; and Chiang, his wife and their son.
Peng and Chiang did not want to personally bear the costs of Ng and his wife's travel expenses, so they agreed to falsely declare to their companies that Ng's wife was an IHiS employee.
In February 2022, Peng submitted a business proposal to Huawei's management that recommended the Paris trip to deepen the business relationship between Huawei and IHiS and to build trust to enter the shortlist for the contract.
To get approval, Peng falsely listed Ng and Ng's wife as directors of IHiS. Peng knew Huawei would not allow him to take a client’s spouse on a trip otherwise.
Huawei's management approved the business proposal on the basis of Peng's claims.
Chiang submitted a similar request to his superiors to use joint marketing funds by Huawei and Nera for the trip.
After the trip, Peng and Chiang claimed travel expenses totalling more than S$63,000, of which more than S$18,000 was incurred by Ng and his wife.
The sum included payments for flights, hotels, tickets for a football match, as well as food and tour attractions.
TENDER SPECIFICATIONS
On Mar 31, 2022, Ng sent Peng a screenshot of the amended tender specification documents he was drafting.
Peng understood Ng's messages to mean that he had relaxed the criteria, so that the two reference cases – which system integrator vendors had to provide for the tender – need not be in the healthcare sector.
Peng knew that Ng did this after his suggestion to seek bribes from the less established system integrator vendors.
After returning from the trip to Paris, Peng contacted Ng to ask for the tender form for the term deal, saying he wanted to prepare early so he stood a better chance.
On May 10, 2022, before the specifications were to be published later that week, Ng met Chiang at a coffee shop and handed him the entire bundle of confidential tender documents on a thumb drive.
Chiang met Peng later that day and transferred the contents of the thumb drive to him.
The Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau received information on the corruption and arrested the trio on May 11, 2022.
SENTENCING
Peng has voluntarily paid back the costs of the Paris trip and entertainment as restitution to CPIB.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Eugene Phua and Andre Ong sought five to seven months' jail for Peng.
They described Peng as the main giver of the bribe and also the one who called in the favour when he asked for the tender form.
They said that his culpability was "very close to that of (Ng) and clearly higher than Chiang".
Peng's lawyer Samuel Seow sought no more than four months' jail, arguing that the effect on fair competition in the tender was minimal.
He argued that Huawei and Nera were in a leading position to win the term deal even without Peng's actions, since they were among the vendors who won when the tender was called again after the corruption had come under investigation.
Peng could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to S$100,000 for each charge of corruption.
Continue reading...