E.ON energy trading arm moves to bigger officeE.ON Global Commodities, the energy trading arm ofGermany’s biggest utility, will move Singapore staff toa bigger office on Dec 1, according to a Bloomberg re-port. The group will move to the 40th floor of theOcean Financial Centre. The new office will have sixdesks, compared with four at the current location onthe 37th level of the same building. The company is ex-panding its trading business in Asia and the US as de-mand for energy slows in Europe after the global finan-cial crisis. It trades electricity, emissions certificates,natural gas, oil, coal and freight.Bloomberg

Public consultation on remote gambling curbsTHE Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a public con-sultation exercise to seek views and feedback on the pro-posals to restrict remote gambling in Singapore. The con-sultation period, which began yesterday, will last untilJan 10. The government said on Thursday that it willmake remote gambling illegal, though some exemptionsmay be worked into the law. The public can access theconsultation on the Reach website (www.reach.gov.sg).F e e d b a c k c a n a l s o b e s u b m i t t e d t oMHA_remotegambling_consultation@mha.gov.sg

MOM sounds alert on duplicate websiteTHE Manpower Ministry (MOM) put out an alert yester-day about a duplicate of its official website – www.mom-gov.sg. It clarified that the public should access the offi-cial MOM website at www.mom.gov.sg for informationand transactions concerning MOM matters. It said ac-cess to its official website remained unaffected and nodata had been compromised. It added that it had lodgeda case with the police and investigations were ongoing.

By Grace Leonggleong@sph.com.sg

THE Casino Regulatory Authority ofSingapore (CRA) will have a newchief executive in Jerry See fromJan 6.

The 45-year-old, currently chiefexecutive of the Home Team Acade-my in the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) and a Senior Assistant Com-missioner of Police by rank, takesover from Lau Peet Meng, who hasheaded CRA since June 15, 2011.

Mr Lau, 38, the first Asian regula-tor to helm the International Associ-ation of Gaming Regulators (IAGR),will return to the Singapore PoliceForce (SPF) as its director of opera-tions.

On his appointment, Mr Seesaid: “It is an honour and privilegefor me to join CRA. Although ayoung statutory board, CRA hasachieved much under the previoustwo chief executives. I look forwardto working with the strong team atCRA to strengthen the regulatoryrole of CRA and ensure that the lawsare enforced fairly and firmly.”

He has held various key posi-tions in the SPF, including beingcommander of the Clementi PoliceDivision, the Training Commandand the Police Coast Guard; he wasalso Director of Manpower.

He won the SPF Overseas Schol-

arship in 1987 and graduated with2nd Class Upper Honours in electri-cal engineering from the Universityof Cambridge in 1990. He also hasan MBA from the National Universi-ty of Singapore.

In a statement acknowledgingMr Lau’s contributions yesterday,the MHA said he had built on the ro-bust casino regulatory frameworklaid down by his predecessor, T Ra-ja Kumar. Mr Lau strengthenedCRA’s standing as a firm, fair and re-spected casino regulator, estab-lished an enforcement branch and

improved its investigative and re-search capabilities, the ministrysaid.

Mr Lau, who will continue toserve as IAGR president until Octo-ber 2014, also brought the IAGRConference to Singapore last year, afirst for Asia.

A member of the IAGR’s Board ofTrustees, Mr Lau led the develop-ment of a multi-jurisdictional busi-ness form, which aims to standard-ise and streamline the types of infor-mation provided by business enti-ties to IAGR member countries.

He also mooted the idea of set-ting up a technical standards com-mittee to establish common techni-cal standards for gaming equipmentacross jurisdictions.

CRA chairman Richard Magnussaid: “In the short three years sincethe casinos opened in Singapore,Peet Meng has helped establishCRA as a well-referenced regulatoryagency internationally.

“He has built up a strong teamthat is ready for the challengesahead, and helped build the rightvalues and instincts within the au-thority that puts the interests of Sin-gapore and Singaporeans at theheart of CRA’s work.

“I look forward to working withJerry to achieve CRA’s mission, andto bring the organisation to greaterheights.”

By Michelle Quahmichquah@sph.com.sgTHE Attorney-General’s Chambers ofBrunei, represented by a team led by

Singapore’s Davinder Singh SC of Drew &

Napier, has won its case in what it calledone of the country’s largest corruption

scandals.

The manager of Musfada Enterprise, akey Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) contrac-

tor, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to multi-

ple counts of bribing Shell employees.Malaysian David Chong admitted to

having given B$101,843 in bribes to Shell

employees in return for them securingmore than B$3.2 million in contracts for

Musfada between 2007 and 2009.

Musfada supplied chemicals, oil spillkits, box pallets, safety equipment and

office equipment to Shell.

Under Shell’s guidelines, its employeesare prohibited from accepting money,

loans or gifts worth more than B$50 fromexternal parties.

Chong changed his plea midwaythrough trial, and pleaded guilty to 34charges under the Prevention of Corrup-tion Act, as well as four charges of cheat-ing and two charges of fraudulently de-stroying documents.

He was sentenced yesterday to sixyears and four months’ jail for each of the34 corruption charges, as well as the twocharges of fraudulently destroying docu-ments. For each of the four cheating char-ges, the court sentenced Chong to fouryears and nine months.

All sentences were ordered to run con-currently, not consecutively, giving a totaljail term of six years and four months.

In delivering its sentence, the HighCourt noted that the offences were perpe-trated against a designated public bodythat is the backbone of Brunei’s economy,accounting for more than half of the coun-try’s gross domestic product and 90 percent of its total export earnings.

It also awarded costs of B$180,000 to

the prosecution, in default of whichChong is to serve extra jail time of sixmonths, to run consecutively with the oth-er sentences.

The court further ordered Chong topay to the state S$219,838.10 andUS$326,174.55. Chong has to do so withinnine months of the order, in default ofwhich he has to serve another jail term offive years, to run consecutively with theother sentences.

The Brunei authorities are workingwith Singapore’s Commercial Affairs De-partment to recover the monies fromChong’s bank accounts in Singapore.

Chong was represented by SankaranHalim, Advocates & Solicitors, while theprosecution was led by a team headed byMr Singh and Gary Low of Drew & Napier,along with prosecutors from the Attor-ney-General’s Chambers.

This is the first criminal case in aforeign jurisdiction that Mr Singh hasacted in.

Briefing

Manager of key Shell contractor pleads guilty to bribing Shell staff to get contracts

Casino regulator to get new CEO in Jan

Davinder Singh leads Brunei’ssuccessful prosecutionof major corruption scandal

MR SEEThe 45-year-old is currently chiefexecutive of the Home TeamAcademy in Ministry of Home Affairs

MR SINGHThe prosecution was led by a team headedby him and Gary Low of Drew & Napier,along with prosecutors from the Attorney-General’s Chambers. FILE PHOTO

14 singapore THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 1, 2013