Consultant accused of offering $500,000 bribe
By Selina Lum
A BUSINESS consultant was charged yesterday with offering $500,000 to a senior executive at the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) in exchange for information on a major defence deal.
Eng Heng Chiaw, 46, was accused of offering the money to DSTA deputy chief executive for strategic development, Mr Sin Boon Wah, to get him to disclose the price quoted by a rival in a naval helicopter project.
Eng was alleged to have offered the bribe so that one of the bidders, European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) South East Asia, could price its offer to secure the contract.
The DSTA, as the procurement agency for this defence contract, would have been responsible for calling the tender for the Defence Ministry (Mindef) project.
EADS is the parent of Eurocopter, one of three companies in the running for the naval helicopter project. When contacted yesterday, a spokesman for Eurocopter said it had no comment.
A former Singapore Armed Forces scholar, Eng is said to have left the then-Defence Science Organisation – now DSO National Laboratories, an affiliate of DSTA – in the 1990s. It is not yet clear at this stage of the court proceedings what was the nature of his relationship with EADS, Europe’s largest aerospace and defence group.
No plea was taken from Eng, who was represented by lawyer Shashi Nathan, yesterday. He was released on $20,000 bail. A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for March 7.
Last month, Mindef announced that American company Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation beat Eurocopter and NH Industries to supply Singapore with the high-tech choppers.
The S-70B helicopters, equipped with advanced anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare sensors and weapons, are expected to be delivered between 2008 and 2010 for an undisclosed amount, possibly well over $100 million. The helicopters will operate from the navy’s six new frigates, which are being built now.
EADS’ Eurofighters unit is also in the running for the next major defence contract, worth about $2 billion, for a 20-aircraft replacement of the RSAF’s A-4 Super Skyhawk fighter jets this year.
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