SINGAPORE – To get into his customer’s good books, a businessman submitted a false tender offer to the National Library Board (NLB) for a project, showing significantly higher prices than one submitted by the customer’s company.
The project, worth more than $4.7 million, was later awarded to his customer’s company.
On July 12, the businessman, Tan Hong Liang, 50, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act and was sentenced to four weeks’ jail.
At the time of the offence in 2018, Tan was the sole proprietor of event marketing firm Integra Interactive.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei said that he had a second firm, Cablico, through which he had supplied computer hardware since 2012 to a company called Broadcast Professional, where he met John Paul Tan Wei Ming, 41, who was its senior sales manager.
John Paul Tan was also working for audio and visual equipment supplier Electronics & Engineering (E&E) then.
On March 16, 2018, NLB opened a tender involving the Oldham Theatre of the National Archives of Singapore (NAS). The tender evaluation committee included then NLB assistant director Adrian Chan Siew Leng, 49, who was deployed to NAS.
According to court documents, investigations revealed that some time in March 2018, Chan indicated to John Paul Tan that he wanted the Oldham Theatre tender to be awarded to E&E.
The DPP said: “Adrian… told John Paul that he should thus get at least two other companies to submit bids with prices higher than E&E’s bid, to ensure that the tender would proceed and that E&E’s bid would appear the most attractive.
“Adrian and John Paul were concerned that NLB would void the tender if insufficient bids were received and/or E&E was the only tenderer.”
The prosecutor added that some time on or before March 21, 2018, John Paul Tan approached Tan Hong Liang and asked him to submit a bid for the Oldham Theatre project.
The older man agreed to do so under Integra.
The prosecutor added: “He did not intend to win the tender, as Integra had no capacity to carry out the contract and had no experience in such projects.
“The accused was afraid to offend John Paul by rejecting his request, as he wanted (Broadcast Professional) and E&E to give Cablico more business in the future.”
On March 22, 2018, Tan Hong Liang attended the Oldham Theatre tender briefing, which potential tenderers were required to attend if they intended to submit a bid.
John Paul Tan also attended the tender briefing on behalf of E&E.
The two men pretended not to know each other as they did not want to arouse any suspicions about the independence of the potential tenderers, said DPP Tan.
She also said that on April 19, 2018, John Paul Tan sent Tan Hong Liang a quotation which he had prepared, as well as necessary supporting documents to submit for the Oldham Theatre tender.
Tan Hong Liang then put Integra Interactive’s letterhead and basic information, such as addressee and date, on the quotation. He did not amend the prices.
On April 20, 2018, he submitted the quotation for the Oldham Theatre tender in Integra’s name.
The tender was awarded to E&E on June 27, 2018.
But following a complaint by undisclosed parties, an audit was later conducted on the Oldham Theatre tender.
A group of men, including Chan and Tan Hong Liang, were charged in court in 2024.
On July 12, Tan Hong Liang’s bail was set at $10,000. He is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on July 26 to begin serving his sentence.
In an earlier statement, NLB told The Straits Times that it had suspended Chan from his duties on June 12, 2020, when it was notified of the investigation into the case.
The cases involving him and John Paul Tan are still pending.