Singapore jails Indian for bribing pest control workers

An Indian construction site manager in Singapore has been jailed for six weeks for bribing two pest control company workers to notify him in advance of mosquito breeding inspections at his working place.

Muthukaruppan Periyasamy, a 52-year-old site manager of Fenzhii Engineering Services and Ramo Industries, faced five counts of giving 1,600 Singapore dollars to Tung Chee Keong and Chandran Jeganathan, the Straits Times reported on Friday.

Periyasamy was charged on January 18, the report said.

Tung and Jeganathan were former employees of pest control company Killem Pest, a contractor engaged by the National Environment Agency to conduct vector control, said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in a statement on Thursday.

The duo got the money as "reward" for alerting Periyasamy to upcoming mosquito breeding inspections at his construction site between May and August last year, the daily reported.

Investigations showed that the Indian man had offered to pay Tung and Jeganathan 400 Singapore dollars a month for doing so.

Tung, a Singapore citizen, was sentenced to 11 weeks and five days' jail, while Jeganathan, an Indian, received a prison term of six weeks and three days.

From May to August 2018, Jeganathan told Periyasamy on four occasions about impending inspections and Periyasamy paid the sum to the pair.

The duo later used to split the money. They were jailed on March 18 for accepting gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

--IANS

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