A MAN has been charged in court over corruption offences allegedly committed while he was a commercial executive of Sembcorp Marine Integrated Yard.

Balakrishnan Govindasamy, 61, was said to have corruptly obtained and attempted to obtain gratifications in the form of cash totalling at least S$202,877 between 2015 and 2021.

Sembcorp Marine Integrated Yard was a fully owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, which was rebranded to Seatrium : S51 0% in April 2023.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on Wednesday (Aug 16) said these gratifications allegedly came from nine contractors representing different companies.

They were meant as an inducement or reward for advancing the business interests of these contractors with Sembcorp Marine Integrated Yard.

Govindasamy faces 14 charges under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), of which five have been amalgamated.

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The probe into Seatrium by CPIB started in May 2023. This followed an investigation by the Office of the Comptroller General of Brazil in March on Sembcorp Marine’s wholly-owned Brazilian subsidiary, Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz (EJA), for irregular conduct linked to Operation Car Wash.

The Brazilian government initiated Operation Car Wash as a nationwide criminal investigation in 2014 focusing on money laundering, and was expanded to include an anti-corruption probe. 

Preliminary administrative proceedings against the Brazilian subsidiary EJA were later suspended by the Comptroller General of the Union in April.

CPIB said it strongly advised companies to put in place procedures in areas such as procurement and internal audit to prevent falling victim to employees’ corruption acts.

It also encouraged companies to obtain certification under the Singapore standard ISO 37001 anti-bribery management systems to reduce bribery-related risks and costs.

Any person who is convicted of a corruption offence under Section 6 of the PCA can be fined up to S$100,000 or sentenced to imprisonment of up to five years or both.