• Henry Foo Yung Thye was a deputy group director in the Land Transport Authority when he resigned
• The gambling addict took bribes in the form of loans from contractors and subcontractors
• Foo felt beholden to advance their business interests whenever he could
• The prosecution said this was the largest case of public sector corruption to be prosecuted in recent times
• He will be sentenced on Sept 2

SINGAPORE — While holding senior positions in the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Henry Foo Yung Thye repeatedly solicited bribes from contractors and subcontractors in the form of loans between 2014 and 2019.

Foo, who eventually rose to the position of deputy group director of the new Thomson-East Coast Line and Cross-Island Line of Singapore's MRT network, took more than S$1.24 million in gratification from them.

He oversaw about S$815 million worth of contracts that they had with LTA, and felt beholden to advance their business interests by helping them whenever he could.

He also cheated various colleagues into giving him about S$726,500 in loans between 2008 and 2019, before he resigned from the statutory board in September 2019.

Foo, now aged 47 and a father of two sons, pleaded guilty on Thursday (Aug 26) to seven corruption charges.

Twenty-nine other similar charges, including cheating, will be taken into consideration for sentencing on Sept 2.

Prosecutors pressed for at least six years and three months’ jail, saying that this was the largest prosecution of public sector corruption in recent times.

Under the Prevention of Corruption Act, a penalty order for the amount of bribes Foo has not paid back — about S$1.15 million — has to be imposed as well. The prosecution urged the court to impose a default jail sentence of at least two years.

CPIB RECEIVED ANONYMOUS COMPLAINT

Among the seven people and Singapore branch of a Chinese civil engineering company that were charged alongside Foo, at least two have been jailed.

Ro Sungyoung, 49, and Kim Young-Gyu, 52, who are South Koreans, bribed Foo with S$50,000 in 2018 over an MRT project. They are now appealing against their eight-month jail sentences.

Foo had joined LTA in 1999, rising to be director of a team involved in the Thomson-East Coast Line in 2014.

He became deputy group director in 2018, taking charge of the construction of MRT tunnels and stations such as Havelock, Stevens, Napier and Orchard.

He was also one of the evaluators for LTA contracts and subcontracts under the two MRT lines of which he was in charge.

In October 2018, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) received an anonymous complaint that he had been asking for loans from subcontractors involved in LTA projects under his charge.

CPIB also received more information that Foo had asked for financial help from the director of China Railway Tunnel Group to pay off his outstanding personal debts.

One of the people from whom Foo took bribes was Cai Jungang, then the director of geotechnical firm Tritech Engineering & Testing. The China national also headed a number of related companies such as Presscrete Engineering.

The two men got to know each other sometime in 2006 and interacted with each other, but were not friends.

Tritech was later awarded three contracts in relation to the Thomson-East Coast Line in 2014.

Foo had been the chairman of the tender evaluation committee, which presented its recommendations to the tender steering committee for acceptance. Foo was also the project director for these three contracts.

Foo first approached Cai for loans that year, which Cai agreed to out of fear that Foo could make things difficult for Tritech. He also believed Foo could influence the outcome of LTA evaluations or tenders that involved Tritech.

When agreeing to the loans over phone text messages, Cai would say that he was helping purely out of friendship. He did so to protect himself from potential future investigations into Foo’s relationships with contractors.

During a meeting, when Foo’s colleague suggested that Presscrete — which was subcontracted for geological works — was not competent and should be replaced, Cai voiced his grievances to Foo about this.

By this time, he had lent S$185,000 to Foo.

Foo spoke to his LTA team, and Presscrete was eventually not replaced.

In 2016, Cai gave Foo another S$100,000. Foo then signed a “statement of personal loan”, which read: “The loan is purely a personal help to me for overcoming my family financial crisis, and has no any [sic] implications to the work relationship between both parties.”

This was because Cai was afraid he might get into trouble with the Singapore authorities for agreeing to lend the money to Foo.

PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING DISORDER

Deputy Public Prosecutors Victoria Ting and Andrew Chia noted that Foo held an eminent position of trust and decision-making authority within LTA, and took a sizeable amount of bribes from several parties.

In mitigation, Foo’s lawyer Lim Ker Sheon sought a shorter sentence of three years and 10 months’ jail. He also asked for a maximum of one year in place of the financial penalty, saying that Foo will be unable to pay it.

Mr Lim told the court that Foo had substantially co-operated with the authorities and indicated his intention to plead guilty from the moment he was charged.

Foo was also diagnosed in the Institute of Mental Health with a pathological gambling disorder, which a psychiatrist stated had a causal link to his offences.

Mr Lim spoke briefly about his personal connection with Foo, saying that he had known him since they were five years old.

“He knows he is going to prison for a considerable length of time but he can finally put the past behind him. He doesn’t need to deal with loan sharks harassing his family… he has his sons to live for and that’s what drives him on,” the lawyer added.

Mr Lim further stressed it was undisputed that no tender outcomes were affected, and that LTA’s “open and transparent” system of checks and balances meant he had little ability to influence these outcomes.

However, DPP Ting responded that this was to LTA’s credit and not Foo’s credit, and could even be said to heighten his culpability as he had circumvented this system.

Foo remains out on bail of S$240,000 in the meantime.

The maximum jail term is seven years for each corruption offence if it is related to a matter or contract with the Government or public body, or a subcontract to perform work under such a contract.