NParks Officer Charged for Allegedly Taking $10,000 in Bribes From a Contractor & Taking Upskirt Photos of Women

You’d think that an NParks officer would be busy nurturing nature and taking care of the green spaces left on our island.

Well, to be fair, most of them are actually doing their job.

Except for these two former directors…

…and this man who was charged today.

Took Bribes And Upskirt Photos

48-year-old Lee Choon Phing was charged on 13 April with corruption and cheating, as well as nine counts of insulting the modesty of women.

He was a manager of the Community in Bloom branch at NParks, an initiative to promote gardening culture in Singapore.

Something else was blooming indeed and it’s not a great thing.

In February 2020, Lee had allegedly tried to obtain S$10,000 from a vendor that was supposed to provide 10,000 hats to NParks.

TODAYonline reported that the deal had been made with Tan Beng Khoon, the sole proprietor of SBM Easi Trade.

NParks had contacted them to deliver 10,000 hats by 13 March 2020 for S$23,300. However, the delivery was late and they only had 5,000 hats with them.

In order to cover up the mistake, Lee took the S$10,000 from the SBM as a reward and deceived an accounts executive from NParks’ finance branch into thinking that the delivery had been made by the deadline.

Ultimately, SBM avoided any late delivery fee and NParks had paid SBM the full contractual sum.

That is, until they found out.

Lee also allegedly took upskirt photos of women without their consent between 2015 and 2019.

His victims were photographed in MRT trains and near Cedar Girls’ Secondary School, as well as women in a nursery that supplied plants used along Singapore’s roads and parks.

He is currently out on S$20,000 bail and will return to court on 25 May.

The CPIB emphasised that Singapore adopts a zero-tolerance approach to corruption.

For his corruption charges, he may be jailed up to seven years, fined up to S$100,000, or both.

For cheating, he may be jailed up to 10 years and fined.

Insulting a woman’s modestly may warrant a one-year jail sentence, a fine or both.

Now, if you think this sounds familiar, it’s because just a week ago, two NParks directors were charged, too.

2 Ex-NParks Directors Charged for Accepting Bribes

On 6 April 2021, two ex-National Parks Board (NParks) directors were charged with corruption.

Both men had accepted a bribe in the form of a hotel stay worth S$258.42 when they were in Macau in 2018. It is not known why they were overseas.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) noted that the bribe was “an inducement to advance the business interest of the giver’s company with NParks”.

One of the men had also accepted bribes in the form of “transport services” which were, again, to forward the company’s business interest with NParks.

Both men are currently out on S$5,000 bail and will return to court in May.

Featured Image: Facebook (NParks)