Jail for father and daughter over bribes to secure business deals

A father-and-daughter pair gave more than $403,000 in bribes to a Tetra Pak employee to further their company's business interests with Tetra Pak and DHL Supply Chain Singapore.

Tan Hook Beng, 63, who was the managing director of trucking and warehousing firm Likok Logistics until March 2020, pleaded guilty to a graft charge involving more than $71,000 on Friday and was sentenced to a year in jail.

Of this sum, his daughter Tan Pei Fung, 40, who took over his position, admitted to abetting her father in giving more than $50,000 in bribes. She was ordered to spend eight months behind bars.

Other charges, including one linked to the remaining amount of nearly $332,000, were taken into consideration during their sentencing.

The case involved various subcontracts, including one relating to transportation services. Likok Logistics' total revenue from the subcontracts was more than $4 million.

The company is a subsidiary of the Likok Group owned by Tan Hook Beng's family.

The prosecution said the scheme was fronted by Kevin Tan, 33, then a senior logistics executive at packaging solutions firm Tetra Pak.

The father and daughter pair handed him more than $403,000 through 19 payments between July 2019 and January 2021.

Kelvin Tan, whose case is still pending, then shared the monies with two other men, who were convicted earlier.

Chee Peng Chun, 51, was the general manager at Likok Logistics, while Edmund Hoon Wai Kein, 46, was a senior executive at DHL at the time of the offences.

Among other things, on Nov 8, 2018, DHL was contracted to provide logistical services to Tetra Pak.

However, DHL lacked the resources to provide certain transportation services and urgently sought a subcontractor to do so on its behalf.

Hoon, who had previously worked with Kelvin Tan, learnt about the issue and told Chee about this possible subcontracting opportunity for Likok Logistics.

Chee then told Tan Hook Beng and Tan Pei Fung about it.

Tan Hook Beng gave his approval for Likok Logistics to tender for the subcontract.

DHL's director of transportation and distribution was initially hesitant to award the contract to Likok Logistics due to its small size.

In a discussion with Hoon, Chee then proposed for DHL to award the subcontract to a public-listed firm, GKE Express.

GKE Express would then award a further subcontract to Likok Logistics for transportation services to Tetra Pak, in exchange for a percentage of Likok Logistics' revenue.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim said GKE Express' chief executive, who was Chee's friend, agreed with the arrangement.

On Nov 13, 2018, the subcontract was awarded to GKE Express, which then awarded a subcontract to Likok Logistics.

In December 2018, Hoon, Chee and Kelvin Tan decided to corruptly seek gratifications from Likok Logistics.

Chee recommended that Tan Hook Beng and Tan Pei Fung pay "commissions" to unnamed representatives at Tetra Pak and DHL so that Likok Logistics could retain its subcontracts.

He did not reveal that Kelvin Tan and Hoon were part of the plan, nor did he tell the pair that he would be receiving a cut.

Tan Hook Beng then agreed to the scheme.

On Oct 1, 2020, DHL's management decided to award the transportation subcontract directly to Likok Logistics without GKE Express as an intermediary.

The offences came to light in June 2020 when Tan Pei Fung reported Chee to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

The woman and her father were represented by lawyers Adrian Wee and Lynette Chang from Lighthouse Law.

The lawyers said that their clients were not the originators of the scheme. They also said that Tan Pei Fung was motivated mainly by a sense of duty to her father.

Tan Hook Beng and his daughter were each offered bail of $80,000 on Friday. He is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on May 26 to begin his sentence.

His daughter is expected to do likewise in February 2024.