Company director gave bribes to win construction project at S’pore’s defence research organisation

Published Sep 30, 2026, 04:03 PM

Updated Sep 30, 2026, 04:03 PM

A former senior executive director, Jason Chua, pleaded guilty to bribing a DSO National Laboratories staff member to win a construction contract.

Chua conspired with others to pay over $150,000 in bribes and inflated subcontract prices to secure the project.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau uncovered the corrupt scheme in 2023.

SINGAPORE – A former senior executive director of an engineering company has been convicted of a corruption charge, admitting in court that he had indirectly given a bribe to a staff member of the DSO National Laboratories (DSO).

Jason Chua Aik Leng on Sept 29 pleaded guilty to one charge for abetting the corrupt giving of gratification.

On its website, the DSO describes itself as Singapore’s largest defence research and development organisation, “with the critical mission to develop technological solutions to sharpen the cutting edge of Singapore’s national security”.

It was corporatised in 1997 as a company limited by guarantee under the Ministry of Defence, and renamed as DSO National Laboratories, to reflect its status as a national institution.

The seeds for the crime were planted sometime in or before 2018, according to court documents.

Poh Beng San, who was then assistant manager of DSO’s facilities management team, allegedly told sub-contractor Alex Lee Yew Huat, that DSO was looking for contractors to carry out addition and alterations works for one of its buildings.

Poh is said to have asked for a token of appreciation if the contractor secures the project.

Lee, a supervisor at Fire-Mech, a company dealing with fire protection installation and maintenance services, understood Poh’s request to mean he was asking for money in return for helping the contractor win the project.

According to Deputy Public Prosecutors Eugene Phua and Andrew Chia, Lee then reached out to Chua, who was the senior executive director and shareholder of Wah Loon Engineering (WLE), and asked him if he was willing to work together to win the project.

Lee, whose company had a regular maintenance contract with DSO, said he had inside information from someone in the organisation who could help WLE to win the project and ensure that it progressed smoothly.

Lee allegedly asked in exchange that Chua subcontract the fire protection portion to Fire-Mech, and added that about 1 per cent of the contract price if WLE wins the project should be given to someone in DSO as a token of appreciation.

After some time, Chua, 67, who handled tenders and bids for mechanical and electrical works at WLE, agreed.

In January 2018, DSO extended to four contractors in Singapore tenders for addition and alteration works for a building located at 20 Science Park Drive. Three of the firms had WLE as a subcontractor.

In April 2018, Lee allegedly told Chua that the token of appreciation would be 1.2 per cent of the contract price.

After Chua agreed to the new terms, Lee allegedly informed Poh of the outcome.

The contract was eventually awarded to New Art in September 2018, with WLE as the sub-contractor.

The project was valued at more than $46 million, with the mechanical and engineering subcontract valued at $31.7 million.

Between October 2018 and February 2019, Lee allegedly gave Poh at least $150,000 in gratification.

This was done with the help of Lau How Shing, who was the director of Yuan Li Electrical Engineering (YLE). The Malaysian agreed to facilitate the arrangement as 80 per cent of YLE’s work came from Fire-Mech.

According to prosecutors, Chua and Lee then conspired for the fire protection portion of the project to be subcontracted to YLE at an inflated price of $2,880,000, which included a $480,000 mark up.

However, this portion of the project was handled by another company, Rico Engineering at a price of $2,400,000.

YLE had sub-contracted the fire protection works to Rico Engineering, but did not undertake any actual work on the project.

Chua knew that some or all of the $480,000 mark-up would be paid to someone from DSO for the help given to win the project.

The amount was disbursed from WLE to YLE in two tranches of $240,000 each.

Each time, Lau would keep $10,000 and hand the remaining sum to Lee in cash.

In February 2023, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) received information that Poh had allegedly been receiving gratification from contractors.

During the investigation, Chua was questioned. He admitted to his role in the corrupt scheme.

The prosecutors had sought a sentence of between 13 and 15 months’ for Chua, arguing that the corrupt arrangement involved an employee of Singapore’s largest defence research and development organisation.

They added: “Knowing that a DSO employee was involved and the value of the DSO Project, (Chua and Lee’s) actions in conspiring with each other to corruptly give gratification to Poh of not less than $150,000 would undermine public confidence in Singapore’s public administration in relation to building and construction related contracts.

“Unlike private sector corruption, this is an additional injury to society.”

The prosecutors said that Chua was motivated by financial gain in committing the offence.

Chua’s lawyers, Derek Kang and Vickie Tan from Cairnhill Law, sought a jail term of no more than five to six months, saying their client was not the initiator of the bribe.

They added that it was Lee who had approached Chua with the proposal, adding that their client had no involvement in the actual corrupt acts which took place between Lee and Poh.

The lawyers said there was also no evidence that DSO had suffered any harm as a result of Chua’s offence, or that the work done by WLE was sub-par.

Chua will be sentenced on Oct 16. Poh and Lee’s cases are still before the courts.

发布于 2026 年 9 月 30 日下午 4:03

更新于2026年9月30日下午4:03

前高级执行董事 Jason Chua 承认贿赂 DSO 国家实验室的一名工作人员以赢得一份建筑合同。

蔡某伙同他人行贿超过 15 万美元，并抬高分包价格，以确保获得该项目。

2023年，贪污调查局揭露了这起贪污阴谋。

新加坡——一家工程公司的前高级执行董事被判犯有贪污罪，他在法庭上承认，他曾间接向新加坡国防科技研究院（DSO）的一名工作人员行贿。

9月29日，蔡益伦承认一项教唆行贿罪名。

新加坡国防研究与发展组织（DSO）在其网站上自称是新加坡最大的国防研究与发展机构，“其关键使命是开发技术解决方案，以提升新加坡国家安全的尖端水平”。

1997 年，该机构被改组为国防部担保有限公司，并更名为 DSO 国家实验室，以体现其作为国家机构的地位。

根据法庭文件，这起犯罪的种子早在 2018 年或之前就已埋下。

据称，当时担任 DSO 设施管理团队助理经理的 Poh Beng San 告诉分包商 Alex Lee Yew Huat，DSO 正在寻找承包商为其一栋建筑物进行扩建和改建工程。

据说 Poh 要求，如果承包商能拿下这个项目，就给予一份谢礼。

李是消防机械公司的一名主管，该公司从事消防设备安装和维护服务。他认为 Poh 的要求是想借此机会向承包商索要钱财，以换取他帮助承包商赢得项目。

据副检察官 Eugene Phua 和 Andrew Chia 称，Lee 随后联系了 Wah Loon Engineering (WLE) 的高级执行董事兼股东 Chua，询问他是否愿意合作赢得该项目。

李的公司与DSO签订了定期维护合同，他说他从DSO内部人士那里获得了内部消息，可以帮助WLE赢得该项目并确保项目顺利进行。

据称，李某要求蔡某将消防部分分包给 Fire-Mech 公司，作为交换，他还补充说，如果 WLE 公司赢得该项目，合同价格的 1% 左右应该给 DSO 公司的某人以示感谢。

过了一段时间，67岁的蔡先生（音译）同意了。蔡先生负责WLE公司的机电工程招标和投标工作。

2018年1月，DSO向新加坡四家承包商发出招标邀请，参与位于科学园路20号大楼的扩建和改建工程。其中三家公司的分包商均为WLE。

据称，李在 2018 年 4 月告诉蔡，酬金将是合同价格的 1.2%。

据称，在蔡同意新条款后，李将结果告知了波。

2018 年 9 月，该合同最终授予了 New Art 公司，WLE 是分包商。

该项目价值超过 4600 万美元，其中机械和工程分包合同价值 3170 万美元。

据称，2018 年 10 月至 2019 年 2 月期间，李向 Poh 行贿至少 15 万美元。

这件事是在元力电气工程（YLE）的董事刘豪兴的帮助下完成的。这位马来西亚人同意促成此事，因为YLE 80%的业务都来自Fire-Mech公司。

检察官称，蔡和李随后合谋将该项目的消防部分分包给 YLE 公司，价格虚高至 288 万美元，其中包括 48 万美元的加价。

然而，该项目的这一部分是由另一家公司 Rico Engineering 负责的，价格为 240 万美元。

YLE公司将消防工程分包给了Rico Engineering公司，但YLE公司本身并未参与该项目的任何实际施工。

蔡知道，48万美元的加价中的一部分或全部将支付给DSO的某人，作为赢得该项目的报酬。

这笔款项由 WLE 分两笔支付给 YLE，每笔 24 万美元。

每次，刘都会留下 1 万美元，并将剩余的钱以现金形式交给李。

2023年2月，贪污调查局（CPIB）收到消息称，Poh涉嫌从承包商处收受贿赂。

调查期间，蔡某接受了讯问。他承认自己在腐败计划中扮演的角色。

检方要求判处蔡某 13 至 15 个月的监禁，理由是该腐败安排涉及新加坡最大的国防研究与发展机构的一名雇员。

他们补充道：“考虑到DSO员工参与其中以及DSO项目的价值，（蔡和李）串谋向Poh行贿不少于150,000美元的行为将损害公众对新加坡公共行政部门在建筑和施工相关合同方面的信心。

“与私营部门的腐败不同，这种腐败对社会造成了额外的伤害。”

检方称，蔡某犯罪的动机是为了获取经济利益。

蔡先生的律师，来自凯恩希尔律师事务所的德里克·康和维姬·谭，请求判处蔡先生不超过五到六个月的监禁，称他们的当事人并非行贿的始作俑者。

他们补充说，是李主动向蔡提出这个建议，并表示他们的委托人没有参与李和波之间发生的实际腐败行为。

律师表示，也没有证据表明DSO因蔡某的违法行为而遭受任何损害，也没有证据表明WLE所做的工作不合格。

蔡某将于10月16日被判刑。Poh和Lee的案件仍在审理中。