A former facilities manager at St. Joseph's Institution and three individuals alleged to have bribed him have been charged in court in a significant corruption case. The four defendants faced charges on Thursday, September 18, 2025, following an investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.
The primary defendant is Ng Cher Him, a 58-year-old Singaporean who worked as a facilities manager at the school. He is accused of accepting bribes totaling more than S$67,000 between 2018 and 2023. The alleged bribes were given to him by three vendors: Renee Song Mui Kuan, a 53-year-old Singaporean sales manager for FB Services and Furnishing and Building Services; Ooi Kim Wei, a 48-year-old Malaysian permanent resident and director of air conditioning company EuconAir Services; and Margaret Chin Lee Lan, a 71-year-old Singaporean in charge of Integrated Security Solution Asia Pacific.
Ng faces a total of nine corruption charges for allegedly accepting these bribes as rewards for furthering the business interests of the vendors' companies with the school. The breakdown of the alleged bribes includes S$24,820 from Song between February 2018 and July 2020 on 12 occasions for favoring FB Services, and another S$34,480 from the same individual between August 2020 and September 2022 on 12 occasions for favoring F&B Services. He also allegedly received S$5,000 from Ooi in early 2021 and at least S$2,500 from Chin on five occasions between August 2020 and April 2022.
In addition to the corruption charges, Ng and Chin face separate charges related to false quotations. Between February 2019 and March 2020, Chin allegedly conspired with others to provide Ng with six quotations for CCTV supply and installation at SJI that contained false statements intended to mislead the school. Ng then allegedly used these deceptive quotations in his capacity at the school.
During the court proceedings, Ng stated his intention to plead guilty and indicated he would not engage a lawyer. Chin also said she would plead guilty but would obtain legal representation. Ooi did not indicate his plea and said he would seek legal advice first. The cases for Song, Chin, and Ooi are scheduled to be heard again on October 16, while Ng's case will be heard on October 30.
If convicted of corruption, each defendant faces severe penalties including fines of up to S$100,000, imprisonment for up to five years, or both. The school confirmed that Ng left his position in November 2023.
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