NParks officer charged for corruption, cheating and taking upskirt photos

Wan Ting Koh
·Senior Reporter
·2 min read
Money in an envelope changing hands.
PHOTO: Getty Images

SINGAPORE — A National Parks (NParks) officer was charged in court on Tuesday (13 April) for corruption and taking upstart videos of women, amongst other offences.

Lee Choon Phing, a 48-year-old Manager of the Community in Bloom Branch of NParks, was handed 11 charges related to cheating, attempting to obtain bribes, and insulting the modesty of women over four years.

In February 2020, Lee, a Singaporean, is said to have attempted to corruptly obtain $10,000 from Tan Being Khoon, sole proprietor of SBM Easi Trade, as a reward for misrepresenting to NParks that SBM had fulfilled an order to deliver 10,000 hats on time.

The delivery was actually late and had a shortfall of 5,000 hats, according to a press release by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, which added that Lee’s misrepresentation resulted in SBM avoiding any late delivery fee and led to NParks paying the full contract amount to SBM.

Lee is also alleged to have cheated an accounts executive from NPark’s Finance Branch, by deceiving him into believing that SBM had delivered the full order to NParks by deadline. This allegedly caused the accounts executive to deliver the full contractual payment of $23,300 to SBM.

Separately, Lee was charged for taking upskirt photographs of various women with his mobile phone between 2015 and 2019 at venues such as an MRT train and near a secondary school.

He faces nine counts of insulting the modesty of women for this alleged offence.

If Lee is convicted of a corruption offence, he can be jailed up to five years and/or fined up to $100,000. If the corruption offence is related to a matter or contract with the government or public body, the maximum jail term can be increased to seven years.

An NParks spokesperson told Yahoo News Singapore that Lee has been suspended from official duties since May last year.

Lee will return to court on 25 May.

For cheating, Lee may be jailed up to 10 years and fined if convicted. If convicted of insulting the modesty of a woman, he may be jailed up to a year, and/or fined.

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