Man Accused of Bribing Cop for Drink-Driving with $1,000 & Even Challenged Cop

By
Shawn Ambrose
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In the movies, when a police officer stops the protagonist on the road for a traffic offence, the driver usually slides over some cash conspiratorially while looking the other way, and the cop grabs the cash and slyly keeps it in his pocket, then leaves without saying anything.

The protagonist has successfully bribed the cop and has managed to evade the law.

Real life, however, is nothing like the movies.

If you actually try to bribe a police officer, especially in Singapore, you’re going to land in much bigger trouble than you anticipated.

Man Accused of Bribing Cop for Drink-Driving with $1,000

A 49-year-old man who tried to bribe a police officer with $1,000 after getting into a minor accident is now on trial facing three separate charges.

The man, Chong Wei Kwong, denies bribing the officer, saying he was misunderstood.

On 14 Dec 2008, Chong was driving out of a multi-storey car park at the PoMo mall located along Selegie Road, according to TODAYonline.

For some reason, Chong could not get through the exit gantry, and in frustration, he reversed and hit a nearby staircase door, causing it to fall.

The mall’s security supervisor came to investigate and called the police, even though Chong asked him not to.

Police officers arrived on the scene soon after and determined that Chong was driving under the influence – he had 76 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath, which is more than twice the prescribed limit of 35 micrograms.

At this point, Chong had two options:

  1. Accept that he was caught drink-driving and face the consequences
  2. Literally anything but challenge and bribe the cop

Naturally, Chong went with option 2.

Challenged Cop Before Attempting to Bribe Him

In court yesterday (12 October 2020), Staff Sergeant Low Wee Meng testified that Chong had challenged him by saying the officers did not have evidence that he was in the car.

At that point, Chong had already alighted the car, and probably thought it was a genius move.

However, he must have forgotten it was 2018, and that security cameras exist.

And that’s exactly what Staff Sergeant Low said to Chong.

“I told him it’s okay, I will get my partner to check the CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage. He told me he drank half a bottle of liquor and wanted to leave early,” Low said.

After a few breathalyser tests, Chong later told Staff Sergeant Low that he would withdraw S$1,000 from an ATM anytime, specifying that it was meant for Low.

“I immediately radio-ed back to the (police operations room) and said that the accused tried to bribe me with S$1,000 and I’m going to place him under arrest,” Low said.

However, in court, Chong’s lawyer claimed that the S$1,000 he mentioned was actually to pay the mall’s management for the damaged door, and that he was misunderstood.

Image: Tenor

The problem with this defence is that Chong had previously admitted to offering the bribe to the policeman when he gave a statement to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau after his arrest.

There, he said he tried to bribe the officer because he didn’t want to be arrested for drink-driving.

Chong was likely wary of getting charged for drink-driving because he was previously banned from driving for 15 months in 2001 for a drink-driving offence.

Whether the judge believes Chong or not, however, remains to be seen.

The 49-year-old is facing three charges of offering gratification to an agent, drink-driving, and failing to exercise care while driving.

If found guilty of trying to bribe the officer, Chong could face up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to S$100,000, or both.

Over in TikTok, there’s a drama involving property agents that’s caused by us. Here’s what happened:

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]