SINGAPORE: Three full-time National Servicemen have been charged with corruption.

Ang Zi Heng, Adrian Tan and Ee Jin Liang allegedly accepted bribes in return for helping Indonesian Navy personnel smuggle contraband cigarettes into Singapore last year.

The three were Singapore Armed Forces drivers attached to the Tuas Naval Base.

Between April and December last year, the three were said to have transported illegal cigarettes out of the Tuas Naval Base and Changi Naval Base.

In exchange, they received contraband cigarettes as payment from the Indonesian Navy staff.

Ang faces one charge, while Tan has been slapped with two.

Ee faces six charges in total, including instigating a colleague to clear his locker of contraband cigarettes, to avoid getting caught.

They have been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Penal Code.

Will they also be charged by SAF?

$3million dollar taxes evaded....

under singapore law...

i hope those 3 jokers got really really rich fathers... because the fines would be $60million dollars!!!

.... as the says....

SMOKING KILLS!!!

will SAF or RSN in this case charge them???

you think leh??

sure kenna charge until no sun no moon no star one... somemore its now on public news... you think the navy is gonna just turn a blind eye???

people at the top would be asking questions... and next time... it might not be simply "cigarettes"...

just imagine... a truck load of C4... park it next to our "stealth frigate"...

see my point???

in short ... the navy F U this time... so much for "security" if the indonesian navy could actually smuggle cigrattes right beneath our Chief of Navy's nose.... through our naval base!!! NOT ONE.. but BOTH our naval base was compromised!!!

if i am the chief of navy... i will summary execute those 3 idiots and then shoot myself. KNNCCB.

From what I've heard, stuff going into the naval bases are screened very thoroughly. Stuff coming out on the other hand... (esp. on an MID vehicle, which the newspaper said they smuggled the stuff out of)

the fear is that... the three may be just the tip of an iceberg.

remember not so long ago... when LHL son complain about a certain officer's lack of integrity??

so its not just in the navy... the army being the largest of the 3 services are bound to have its share of such personnel... i just pray for the air force.

if i may... the SAF equipment may be going into 3G... but the all important heartware... is going the other way.....

i knows its unfair to make such a statement over 3 offenders... i just pray that such attitude is not widespread in the entire SAF...

there is a need in my opinion for the SAF to look into bolstering its rank and files sense of responsibility... before more soldier gets "infected".

we need an immunization system in place against such attitude... at the same time we need a cure .... to deal with such personnel...

and lastly ... a deterence effort.... to show everyone... wat happens when you cross the line.

without the heartware... all our 3G weapons are just empty shells!!

What do you expect, when a large proportion of the regular specialist force actively regrets their choice of career? Where the head leads, the body will follow.

nobody likes their work... that's why we get paid to do it...

do they like their salary when they collect it at the end of every month??

not liking one's job is no reason nor an excuse to do your job poorly...

SAF driver jailed 16 months for helping to smuggle cigarettes
By Leong Wee Keat, TODAY | Posted: 03 March 2009 2042 hrs


SINGAPORE: One of three Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) servicemen charged for accepting bribes to help smuggle cigarettes out of a military base had been sentenced to 16 months in jail.

Ang Zi Heng, 22, pleaded guilty to one charge of corruptly accepting about 18 to 20 cartons of contraband cigarettes from a staff of the Indonesian Navy in exchange for transporting contraband cigarettes out of Changi Naval Base for sale to a Singapore syndicate.

Ang was the vehicle commander of a military minibus driven by Ee Jin Liang last August.

Some members of the Indonesian navy, who were here for a meeting, loaded cartons of contraband cigarettes onto the minibus that Ee and Ang were driving and directed the Singaporeans to drive to the carpark outside the naval base.

Ee and Ang made a total of five to six trips and they received contraband cigarettes with a street value of S$756 for helping with the smuggling.

The prosecution argued for a deterrent sentence as Ang had committed the offence in the course of his duties as a military driver and undermined the security of Changi Naval Base.

Ang, who was unrepresented, pleaded for leniency and claimed he did not communicate with the Indonesian staff due to a language barrier.

Family members said Ang was a non-smoker and gave the contraband cigarettes away to others.

The two others involved in the case, Ee and Adrian Tan, will appear in court on March 13.

If convicted, they could each be jailed up to five years and/or fined a maximum of S$100,000.

How come no word about the fate of TNI-AL partners-in-crime?;)

finally i found this section....i didnt even know it exist....

the TNI are known to do side line or part time....so i dont think they will be prosecuted....dont be surprise if some of the pirate are among them....

Me neither till Gary1910 pointed this out when a thread of mine suddenly 'disappeared'.

Yes, i've heard from anecdotes that TNI-AL staff are quite 'enterprising'

*shakes head*... not just integrity but simple common sense is in desperate decline these days...

those idiots actually abetted smugglers and agreed to be paid in kind... for a token of what? 1 ctn of ciggie per run?

not that they should have accepted cash, but this shows the outrageous perversity of the whole thing!

they didn't even think that what they did was seriously wrong and justified payments beyond the pittance of a few packs of ciggies!

i can just so imagine some idiot offering to transport bombs into the base or guns out of it because someone promised to buy him a PSP or a bunch of game cards...

Aug 27, 2009

HELPING FOREIGN NAVY STAFF SMUGGLE ILLEGAL CIGS

Ex-army driver jailed
Judge imposes deterrent sentence as security at naval base was breached
By Khushwant Singh

A FORMER full-time national serviceman, who helped foreign navy personnel smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes out of Changi Naval Base, was given a stiff jail term on Wednesday. Ee Jin Liang, 23, who was a lance corporal and military driver, appeared stunned after a judge meted out a prison sentence of four years and five months.

Explaining the tough sentence given to the first-time offender, Senior District Judge Tan Siong Thye said a deterrent sentence was clearly called for as Ee had assisted foreign personnel to circumvent the security precautions at a military installation on five occasions.

He said: 'If not deterred, some other national serviceman could be bribed to look the other way...We can ill-afford such security compromise in today's context, as terrorism is very real and terrorists will exploit security lapses and cause massive public mayhem and destruction of human lives and property.'

The judge also pointed out that the amount of contraband involved was one of the highest to come before the courts: The excise duty and goods and services tax unpaid on the cigarettes exceeded $3 million.

Besides Ee, who pleaded guilty last week and has been in military detention since his arrest, two other former military drivers were also involved: Ang Zi Heng, 22, who was a lance corporal, was jailed for a year and four months in March on one count of corruption; and Adrian Tan, 23, who was also a lance corporal, is awaiting trial.

During Ee's trial last week, the court heard that meetings between representatives of the Singapore and Indonesian navies are held every month, with the two navies taking turns to host these meetings. When meetings are held at Changi Naval Base, drivers like Ee are assigned to ferry the Indonesians.

In August last year, an Indonesian officer asked Ee if it was safe to take contraband cigarettes out of the base. Ee replied that he did not know, but allowed the Indonesians to load the cigarettes onto the minibus that he and Ang took turns to drive.

The pair went on to make five or six trips to a carpark outside the base, where the contraband was loaded onto lorries. For their work, Ee and Ang were given 20 cartons of cigarettes.

Two months later, Ee repeated the favour. As the minibus was too small, he obtained a larger vehicle and made three trips to transport the contraband out of the base. That time, he received a chest of tea in addition to 20 cartons of cigarettes.

The smuggling operation went up in smoke last December, when Customs officers intercepted two lorries loaded with the smuggled cigarettes and caught Ee while his vehicle was being loaded with contraband at the wharf. Investigations revealed that the Indonesians were in cahoots with a syndicate that sold the cigarettes here.

khush@sph.com.sg

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNew...ory_421965.html