ICA officer charged with accepting money and sexual favours from 2 Chinese nationals

SINGAPORE: A 47-year-old Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer was charged on Tuesday (Nov 24) with taking bribes and accepting sexual favours in exchange for helping two Chinese nationals secure Special Passes.

Teo Hwee Peng is alleged to have accepted money and sexual favours from the two women between 2018 and 2019, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said.

One of them, 37-year-old Liang Qinglan, is accused of agreeing to give him an Apple iPhone X, in exchange for a Special Pass so that she could remain in Singapore.

Teo also had sex with Liang and accepted a red packet containing 188.88 yuan (S$38) from her.

The ICA officer subsequently took at least S$2,100 cash and loans amounting to 7,000 yuan (S$1,430) from her as rewards for his help, and they had sex on another occasion, CPIB said.

In July 2019, Teo attempted to obtain about S$1,500 and accepted a massage and masturbation services from another Chinese national, 32-year-old Cheng Wenjuan, also in return for his help in getting her a Special Pass.

“He also corruptly agreed to accept an unspecified amount of money from Cheng in the future as a reward for the said arrangements,” CPIB said.

Cheng is also alleged to have offered Teo about S$500 for help on the Special Pass, which he rejected.

On another occasion on Jul 26, 2019, Cheng offered Teo an unspecified amount of money as an inducement to provide her with information on the arrest status of a person named Hu Youai, CPIB said.

Teo was charged with 12 counts of corruption.

Liang and Cheng were also charged in relation to these incidents. 

Liang was handed nine charges of corruption for agreeing to induce or reward Teo for arranging the Special Pass for her, while Cheng was charged with four counts of corruption.

ANOTHER CORRUPTION CASE INVOLVING FAKE ICA OFFICER

In addition, Cheng was charged in a corruption case involving a 42-year-old Singaporean, Kelvin Lim Chee Wee, who was a manager of a motor vehicle workshop.

​Lim had allegedly lied to Cheng that he used to work at the immigration department and had friends there who could help Cheng remain in Singapore.

“However, this was not true as Lim had never worked at ICA,” CPIB said.

“Nonetheless, Cheng had allegedly given Lim corrupt gratification in the form of sex and cash as inducements for him to make such arrangements.”

Between May and July last year, Cheng offered Lim sex on eight occasions. She also gave him cash amounting to S$7,000 and 1,000 yuan (S$200) hoping he would arrange for an immigration officer to help her obtain a Special Pass.

Cheng also sought similar arrangements for another woman, Lei Guoxiang. She gave Lim S$2,000 and 3,000 yuan (S$610) to arrange for Lei to be issued a Special Pass.

For these offences, Cheng and Lim were both charged with 14 counts of corruption each.

Anyone convicted of a corruption offence can be fined up to S$100,000, jailed for up to five years or both.