S'pore court sentences defence force director over corruption

A 63-year-old Indian-origin Singaporean, who served as a defence force director, was today sentenced to 10 weeks' jail on corruption charges for misappropriating two iPads in September, 2011 while in office.
Jeganathan Ramasamy, who was director at the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), was found guilty and convicted of two counts of criminal breach of trust in October this year, after a 10-day trial, the Channel News Asia reported.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi told the court that the charges faced by Jeganathan under section 409 of the penal code are "the most serious form of criminal breach of trust... by virtue of the fact that (he) was a public servant when he misappropriated the iPads".

Criminal breach of trust by a public servant is punishable by up to 20 years' jail and a fine.
Jeganathan had said he assumed the two iPads, worth a total of 1,877 dollars, obtained from SCDF vendors were for personal use, when in fact the devices had been entrusted to him for the purpose of testing out SCDF mobile applications developed by an external vendor.
He gave one iPad to his daughter and sold the other to his colleague Eric Yap Wee Teck, then a senior director at SCDF, for 200 dollars.

Hon called the offences "serious, deliberate" and showing "a lack of professional integrity".

Jeganathan's actions have also "damaged the reputation of the SCDF", the DPP added.
In mitigation, Jeganathan's lawyer Sanjiv Rajan cited several testimonials for his client, describing him as a dedicated, hardworking man who "consistently performed his job well" throughout his career.
The lawyer also reminded the judge of his client's medical condition, understood to be a heart problem.
In delivering his sentence, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said that while he noted Jeganathan's clean record, he could not ignore certain aggravating factors.
At the close of the hearing, Sanjiv indicated that his client would be appealing against his conviction. No date has yet been set for the appeal to be heard in the High Court.

Jeganathan is out on bail of 15,000 dollars. His passport, however, will be kept by authorities.