Jail, caning for immigration offender who gave $36k in bribes

A recalcitrant immigration offender who handed a police officer bribes totalling $36,000 over seven months was sentenced to three years' jail and six strokes of the cane on July 15.

Chen Guangyun, 39, had given the money to Poo Tze Chiang, then a station inspector with the Singapore Police Force's Secret Societies Branch, after the latter claimed he could help the Chinese national avoid prosecution over immigration-related offences.

Poo also claimed he could help lessen the potential punishment that Chen would receive for his crimes, which were outstanding at the time.

Poo, 47, who is no longer a police officer and is currently behind bars, ultimately failed to deliver on these promises.

After a trial, District Judge John Ng convicted each man of four counts of graft in February.

Separately, Chen also pleaded guilty to two immigration-related offences after he unlawfully entered Singapore in 2022.

Two other charges including one count of assault were considered during his sentencing.

In earlier proceedings, the court heard that Chen had initially entered Singapore lawfully on Oct 20, 2014, but overstayed.

On Jan 25, 2017, he was convicted of offences including overstaying before he was sentenced to six months' jail and three strokes of the cane.

After serving his sentence, he was deported in June that year and banned from entering Singapore.

Despite this, he later entered Singapore illegally by boat and officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority arrested him.

Chen was charged in court again with immigration-related offences on June 8, 2019.

Chen and Poo first met each other during a drinking session some time in or around 2019, and they maintained a casual acquaintance.

Poo later told Chen he was a police officer and showed him his warrant card.

After that, Chen told Poo that he had a pending case for entering Singapore illegally.

Deputy public prosecutors David Menon and Bryan Wong stated in court documents: "Poo told Chen that he could help Chen with his ongoing case and lessen any punishment that Chen may face. Poo asked Chen to pay $8,000 in exchange for his help. Chen agreed."

The DPPs also told Judge Ng that Chen handed Poo the amount in cash around Geylang Lorong 27 in or around July 2019.

About a month later, Poo informed Chen that he could make him a police informant, which would allow the Chinese national to continue staying in Singapore after serving his sentence for his immigration-related offences.

The prosecutors added that Poo also told Chen that he would do so only if the latter agreed to pay him $3,000 a month.

The DPPs said Chen later gave Poo a total of $18,000 between August 2019 and January 2020.

In fact, Chen never provided Poo with any information.

Chen later handed him another $10,000, but all these did nothing to alleviate his legal woes.

The charges against Chen were maintained, and on March 30, 2020, he pleaded guilty to an offence of entering Singapore without a valid pass.

He was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail and four strokes of the cane before he was deported on May 4, 2020.

Chen was in China in early 2021 when he learnt that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) was investigating Poo for unrelated graft offences.

Chen then contacted the CPIB to report that he had given bribes to Poo.

The DPPs said Chen was "still desperate to work in Singapore" and returned to the country illegally in or around September 2022.

Police officers later arrested him in or around April 2023 over his involvement in a fight.