SINGAPORE: The director of a wholesale trade company and a sales executive of a department store at Dunlop Street were fined S$5,000 each on Tuesday (Mar 19) for corruption, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said.
Mohamed Malik Seeni Syed, 34, the director of Via Star, and Arunachalam Arunraj, 28, a sales executive at the Appollo Sellappas store, both Indian nationals, had agreed in 2016 that Arunraj would push for the sale of watches from Via Star at the department store, resulting in an increase in orders for the items.
AdvertisementIn return, Malik paid Arunraj a total of S$2,600 in cash over four occasions from October 2016 to September 2017, CPIB said in their press release.
[h=3]READ: Forklift operators jailed and fined for taking S$1 bribes from truck drivers[/h]Malik was supplying watches to Appollo Sellappas through Via Star for retail sales purposes while Arunraj was the main employee who sold watches at the department store.
Arunraj was also tasked with alerting the store’s inventory department when watch stocks were low, which would lead to more watches being ordered, the investigation bureau explained.
AdvertisementAdvertisementBoth men were charged on Feb 26. Malik was charged with four counts of corruptly giving gratification to Arunraj as inducements to advance the business interest of Via Star with Appollo Sellappas, while Arunraj was charged with four counts of accepting the bribes from Malik.
[h=3]READ: Former Keppel Shipyard officer accepted S$700,000 in bribes over 14 years[/h]Arunraj was also ordered to pay an additional penalty worth the same amount he received from the bribes.
“Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. It is a serious offence to give or accept bribes from another individual or entity," CPIB said.
Those found guilty of corruption can be fined up to S$100,000 or jailed for up to five years, or both.
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