CPIB officer tells court Darinne Ko revealed pregnancy & abortion

The star witness in the corruption trial of a law professor in a sex-for-grades case revealed that she was pregnant and had an abortion - when she was first brought in by Singapore's anti-graft bureau to give her statement. 

Mr Bay Chun How, an officer of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), said this in court on Wednesday - on day 5 of the trial of Tey Tsun Hang. 

Mr Bay said Ms Darinne Ko, who's Tey ex-student, revealed she was pregnant to the CPIB on 2 April 2012. 

He told the court he had returned to the bureau at about 10am that day, after making a trip to Tey's house. 

He wanted to find out what progress had been made at that time. 

That was when he learnt that Ms Ko was already giving information. 

Mr Bay, who's the prosecution's seventh witness, said Ms Ko was already cooperating and had confirmed her sexual relationship with Tey, as well as the gifts. 

He added that she had told the CPIB about her pregnancy and abortion. 

Tey, 41, a former district judge, is accused of six counts of obtaining gratification in the form of gifts and sex from Ms Ko between May and July 2010, in exchange for lifting her grades. 

Earlier, Tey continued to try to poke holes in the testimony of the prosecution's second witness. 

He questioned CPIB officer, Ms Png Chen Chen, who had interrogated Ms Ko. 

He asked her about the way Ms Ko was treated during questioning. 

Tey's premise is that Ms Png had extracted Ms Ko's statement through inducement, threats and promises. 

But the CPIB officer disagreed. 

A third prosecution witness, Mdm Lee Swee Khuen, also took the stand. 

Mdm Lee is a senior associate director of the Human Resource Department of NUS. 

She testified that NUS has a code of conduct, requiring staff to declare gifts as well as conflict of interests. 

An issue raised by Tey on Tuesday also surfaced during her testimony. 

Tey had said he could not afford two forensic tests costing more than $50,000 to verify handwriting and ink dating on his cheque book entries - as he has been suspended since July last year. 

Today, Mdm Lee told the court that Tey is still receiving his pay every month, even during suspension. 

MediaCorp understands that Tey's pay is about $15,000 a month. 

The fourth witness who testified was Ms Eileen Pang, senior associate director of financial services at NUS. 

A fifth prosecution witness, Mr Akira Goh of CYC Shanghai Shirt Company, also gave evidence.