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China National Tried to Bribe Police with $100 for Drink-Driving; Claimed It Was to ‘Pay the Fine’

2022-06-24 , 5:47 pm

Amidst all the things that one probably shouldn’t try and do in Singapore, I think most Singaporeans can agree that bribery has a place on the list.

And it seems like this Chinese national learned that the hard way.

Chinese National Charged With Trying To Bribe Police

On Wednesday (22 June), Chinese national Han Shaolu was convicted of three counts of bribery after trying to bribe police officers back in 2019.

Back then, he was caught by officers for drink-driving after a public tip-off.

Han pleaded not guilty to the charges, but the judge convicted him anyway after “not believing” his account of the story.

At around 11pm on 3 December 2019, the police were alerted to a case of drink-driving at the car park of Geylang Lorong 31.

Two police officers were then deployed to the scene to investigate the matter, and reached the car park to see a drunk Han sitting in his car.

Both Police Officers Did Not Understand Chinese

Upon seeing Han in his car, both police officers started interrogating Han.

However, Han could only speak Chinese, while both police officers did not understand the language.

One of the officers returned to the police car to get a breathalyser while the other remained at the scene and tried to communicate with Han.

Instead of trying to cooperate with the officer, Han took out two $50 notes from his wallet instead and waved them in the officer’s face.

The officer, who could not understand what Han was trying to say, called for his colleague’s help when he saw Han take out the $50 notes.

This prompted Han to waggle the same $50 notes in the other officer’s face as well.

Even when the officers asked Han to sit at the side of the road, Han continued to try and get the two officers to accept the $100.

After taking the money from Han, one of the police officers called a Chinese colleague of his and asked him to help translate what Han was saying over the phone.

Insisted that $100 is Not a Bribe

After the Chinese colleague helped translate what Han meant, the two police officers at the scene realised that Han had been trying to bribe them.

They then notified their superior, who arrived at the scene soon after being alerted to Han’s bribe.

After reaching, the superior questioned Han and asked him if he was trying to bribe the police officers.

In response, Han said that he was not trying to, and that a bribe back in China would cost upwards of $1,000.

Even after the superior warned Han by saying that any amount of money is considered bribery in Singapore, Han insisted that the $100 was only “kopi money” and even tried to pass the $100 to the superior.

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Changed Statement to “Trying to Pay Fine”

The prosecutor also pointed out that Han admitted in multiple statements that he only took the $100 out of his wallet to try and get the police officers to let him off that night.

Investigations also revealed that Han was supposed to fly back to China the next day, and that he had already informed his relatives and friends beforehand.

With that, it was “obvious” that Han tried to bribe the police officers in fear that being caught for drunk driving would affect his plans to return to China.

The prosecutor then said that Han only changed his statement and claimed that he was “trying to pay the fine” as a lie to try and evade punishment.

The date for Han’s sentencing will be decided by the judge.