Ex—CNB chief Ng Boon Gay back in court for verdict

SINGAPORE: Former anti—drugs chief Ng Boon Gay is in court for the verdict of his sex—for—contracts corruption case.

Ng, 46, was accompanied by his wife Ms Yap Yen Yen.

District Judge Siva Shanmugam started the court session on Thursday afternoon by explaining the grounds for his decision.

He found Ms Cecilia Sue’s credibility to be successfully impeached.

He also said her explanations as to why there were inconsistencies in her statements to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and evidence in court were inadequate and unconvincing.

Ng was charged in June last year with four counts of obtaining sexual favours from 36—year—old Ms Cecilia Sue, who was a sales manager for two IT vendors.

Ng allegedly breached the Prevention of Corruption Act by engaging in sexual acts with Ms Sue on four occasions, between June and December in 2011.

Ms Sue was the sales manager of Hitachi Data Systems from June to November 2011.

She joined Oracle Corporation Singapore in December in 2011 as its senior sales manager.

In exchange, Ng is accused of furthering the business interests of the two IT companies in their dealings with the Central Narcotics Bureau.

After a closely—watched 14—day trial, both the prosecution and defence made their closing arguments late on 28 January 2013.

In rounding up, lead prosecutor Tan Ken Hwee said as a civil servant and one who had the authority to make decisions, the burden of proving he had received gratification legitimately, was on Ng.

He said under the provisions of the law, as long as Ng had grounds to suspect that a reason Ms Sue performed the sexual favours was to induce him to show her employers favour, then it would be sufficient to prove he was corrupt.

But the defence, led by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng urged the court not to convict an innocent man just to bring home the message that corruption is wrong.

Mr Tan said the defence’s case is that despite an ongoing relationship with Ms Sue, there was no conflict of interest.

If convicted, Ng can be jailed up to five years and fined a maximum of $100,000 for each count.

— CNA/ck