Keppel Corp pays S$570m to resolve bribery probes

[Beehive3783]

Singapore is too small to be playing with fire (bribery)

 

Especially those job titles where your cleanliness contributes heavily to your reputation in the industry, e.g. procurement & purchasing, sales.

 

Once your name goes black in SG, it will be hard to make a comeback in the same industry.

 

So it's always better to stay clean.

 

Money changing hands is definitely a no-no in my book, but I can close one eye to entertainment.

 

somehow i am getting the vibes here that quite a few people here are not adverse to paying bribes to clinch deals in countries rife with corruption so as to climb the corporate ladder in the company

good luck then if you think this way

[Wt_know]

what a year to close 2017 ...

Edited December 29, 2017 by Wt_know

[Sturtles]

Singapore is too small to be playing with fire (bribery)

 

Especially those job titles where your cleanliness contributes heavily to your reputation in the industry, e.g. procurement & purchasing, sales.

 

Once your name goes black in SG, it will be hard to make a comeback in the same industry.

 

So it's always better to stay clean.

 

Money changing hands is definitely a no-no in my book, but I can close one eye to entertainment.

Ain't entertainment another form of bribery?

 

Evening the tradition of buying gifts for my child's teacher is an indirect form.

 

It could be some chocolates or an LV wallet

[Wt_know]

lai liao ... coming soon in 2018 ... new cast, new story line, new effects

 

Cos this is different from ahtc.
No need bring up in Parliament, no need competing best actor, best script, best special effects performances from Vivian, kbw, various ST editors etc etc.

 

[Hoseyboh]

lai liao ... coming soon in 2018 ... new cast, new story line, new effects

Please bring more in leh, No check and balance leh.....sibei sianz

[Philipkee]

somehow i am getting the vibes here that quite a few people here are not adverse to paying bribes to clinch deals in countries rife with corruption so as to climb the corporate ladder in the company

 

good luck then if you think this way

 

ðð

I think it's not that we are not averse to bribery but that bribery takes place in so many forms and under different conditions that we don't openly condemn it because we don't want to be pointed out as hypocrites.

 

Examples of bribery? Correct me if I am wrong

1) like someone said, entertaining of clients, giving of gifts to teacher of child

2) in my other post, making a donation so that child can enter preferred school

3) giving of goodies to obtain votes?

4) giving of gifts by vendors. Yes they are declared and shared among all as opposed to a personalised gift BUT all this just makes it legal. The gift is to make a good impression and hopefully more business will be sent their way. So is this bribery or should all CNY hampers be returned to sender cos the good impression might influence business decisions?

 

If we want to openly condemn in this case, we also need to condemn those who practice 1 to 4.

 

It is actually very hard to be squeaky clean. What we actually try to do is make sure we are legal and above board, which does not mean we are actually squeaky clean.

 

Just two cents. Don't flame me.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Philipkee

[Voodooman]

somehow i am getting the vibes here that quite a few people here are not adverse to paying bribes to clinch deals in countries rife with corruption so as to climb the corporate ladder in the company

 

good luck then if you think this way

 

 

[Blueray]

[Playtime]

Yes, it is more widespread than I thought. I personally will quit the job if asked to collude/ pay a bride to win a contract, upside the company takes (most of it, I presume), downside is all mine. Maybe I don’t need the job but the maths really don’t cut it me.... maybe I am too risk adverse but much is at stake here.

 

I deal with regional counterparties and I know such facilitation payments are a way of life but being squeaky clean has awlays been our differentiating factor in this region, that reputation has now been tarnished by this epsiode. Maybe I am being naive, Lol....

 

wah.... a bit hard core liao, think it falls under people trafficing and slavery... just do the usual and treat your customer to geylang or one of the higher end service establishments lor...

lai liao ... coming soon in 2018 ... new cast, new story line, new effects

 same as they said the so called malay EP saga was decided by the AGC... thus all clear,

 

they will also say the lawyer cleared the contract, so no one was at fault but the lawyer..... who will no doubt never set foot in Singapore to say anything.

[Luckcent]

Someone should look into the over spending of certain games budget liao..........$$$ goes o whose pocket or pockets.

[Jellandross]

I think it's not that we are not averse to bribery but that bribery takes place in so many forms and under different conditions that we don't openly condemn it because we don't want to be pointed out as hypocrites.

 

Examples of bribery? Correct me if I am wrong

1) like someone said, entertaining of clients, giving of gifts to teacher of child

2) in my other post, making a donation so that child can enter preferred school

3) giving of goodies to obtain votes?

4) giving of gifts by vendors. Yes they are declared and shared among all as opposed to a personalised gift BUT all this just makes it legal. The gift is to make a good impression and hopefully more business will be sent their way. So is this bribery or should all CNY hampers be returned to sender cos the good impression might influence business decisions?

 

If we want to openly condemn in this case, we also need to condemn those who practice 1 to 4.

 

It is actually very hard to be squeaky clean. What we actually try to do is make sure we are legal and above board, which does not mean we are actually squeaky clean.

 

Just two cents. Don't flame me.

 

i agree with your points.

 

it seems like the one factor that differentiates common donations/gifts/favours vs outright bribery is transparency. if the money/gift exchange has been historically practised by majority of the society in an open fashion, and/or documented, then it's deemed to be an acceptable norm, like your four examples.  i don't believe anyone can honestly say that they have not done any of the four in their lives.

 

i'm well aware of the grey area in customer entertainment (drinks, parties, KTV, etc) as part of my job.  there are also corporate policies that define what is acceptable entertainment/gift (up to certain $$$ value), what is outright bribery, and the employees will have to use their own common sense and judgement to manage what lies in between.

[Sturtles]

i agree with your points.

 

it seems like the one factor that differentiates common donations/gifts/favours vs outright bribery is transparency. if the money/gift exchange has been historically practised by majority of the society in an open fashion, and/or documented, then it's deemed to be an acceptable norm, like your four examples. i don't believe anyone can honestly say that they have not done any of the four in their lives.

 

i'm well aware of the grey area in customer entertainment (drinks, parties, KTV, etc) as part of my job. there are also corporate policies that define what is acceptable entertainment/gift (up to certain $$$ value), what is outright bribery, and the employees will have to use their own common sense and judgement to manage what lies in between.

In addition, I agree transparency legitimises the bribe, such that this bribe/benefit is shared by all stake holders in the company.

 

So possibly, if the petrobras bribe is transparent, and is shared by all their stakeholders, there should be no case.

 

After all, transactions are all about mutual benefits

 

However, if only a select party benefits from giving away pooled resources, then it becomes corruption.

 

That said, under my categorisation, a wrapped LV wallet/ Hermes Birkin as gifts to teachers counts as corruption, as the acceptor may feel obliged quid pro quo

Edited December 29, 2017 by Sturtles

[DACH]

I think it's not that we are not averse to bribery but that bribery takes place in so many forms and under different conditions that we don't openly condemn it because we don't want to be pointed out as hypocrites.

 

Examples of bribery? Correct me if I am wrong

1) like someone said, entertaining of clients, giving of gifts to teacher of child

2) in my other post, making a donation so that child can enter preferred school

3) giving of goodies to obtain votes?

4) giving of gifts by vendors. Yes they are declared and shared among all as opposed to a personalised gift BUT all this just makes it legal. The gift is to make a good impression and hopefully more business will be sent their way. So is this bribery or should all CNY hampers be returned to sender cos the good impression might influence business decisions?

 

If we want to openly condemn in this case, we also need to condemn those who practice 1 to 4.

 

It is actually very hard to be squeaky clean. What we actually try to do is make sure we are legal and above board, which does not mean we are actually squeaky clean.

 

Just two cents. Don't flame me.

Actually if the company has a set of rules and regulations of what kind of gifts and returns and the amount accepted before regarded as bribery, it will help the staffs distinguish how much they should accept. Also whatever that is received from the customers should be declared to the company too.

[Adrianli]

Oops. My vendor gave me a travel adapter and a 8gb usb the other day? He gave my manager the same.

 

He trying to bribe me?

[Karoon]

In addition, I agree transparency legitimises the bribe, such that this bribe/benefit is shared by all stake holders in the company.

 

 

 

interesting point...imagine you're chief of a city.... you decide who gets to own cars, on the pure basis of money alone, not needs etc. Pay u more than the next person and your subject gets to buy a car. They don't know how much the next person is paying, but the results are published once all monies are in. Money eventually comes to you in the form of salary for you and your team. Put that way it looks dodgy. But hey, its 'transparent'.

somehow i am getting the vibes here that quite a few people here are not adverse to paying bribes to clinch deals in countries rife with corruption so as to climb the corporate ladder in the company

 

good luck then if you think this way

 

 

[Sturtles]

interesting point...imagine you're chief of a city.... you decide who gets to own cars, on the pure basis of money alone, not needs etc. Pay u more than the next person and your subject gets to buy a car. They don't know how much the next person is paying, but the results are published once all monies are in. Money eventually comes to you in the form of salary for you and your team. Put that way it looks dodgy. But hey, its 'transparent'.

 

 

 

You may have just described the COE system.

 

Except the 'Chief of city' is LTA, and the proceeds goes to government treasury, which is supposed to help Singapore/ans

 

Sometimes, the team is rewarded for gains made from public resources, and it borderlines corruption... read : the land around SMRT being used for property rental gains to only their shareholders.

 

Not sure how much SMRT paid for the land resource, but Singaporeans generally may be getting the short end of the stick

Edited December 30, 2017 by Sturtles

[Hoseyboh]

Pritam Singh

Keppel O&M Corruption Scandal

--------------------------------

 

The last day to file Parliamentary Questions for the 8 Jan 2018 sitting of Parliament was 26 December 2017 at 4.30pm. Amidst the shocking revelation of what must be one of the largest corruption scandals in the history of Singapore's Government Linked Companies, I was most surprised to see the virtual absence of any substantive information on this scandal on the AGC or CPIB websites except a brief media statement on the conditional warning given to Keppel, something made even more curious in view of Keppel's denial over a year ago that its top executives were even involved in giving out bribes for contracts. The US Department of Justice website has helpfully uploaded some useful documents in the public interest that flesh out this corruption saga in greater detail here:

 

The WP MPs have filed the following questions on this matter for the upcoming Parliamentary hearing but we will have to wait and see if these questions are prioritised amongst the first 15 or so for oral answer, failing which they will have to be deferred for the next sitting or set down for a written answer. This corruption scandal invites many other angles to consider too, so I was rather surprised to see no question on the matter filed by any PAP MP, suggesting that a Ministerial Statement may well be made. But then again, the Speaker has the power to allow questions to be admitted after 26 Dec 2017, if he determines to do so.

 

Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Prime Minister (a) whether the penalty of US$422 million to be paid by Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd for corrupt payments between 2001 to 2014 to officials of Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Brazil's then ruling party was part of a three-nation plea bargain agreement, involving United States, Brazil and Singapore, and Keppel companies; and (b) what are the considerations in reaching such arrangements, which have implications on local law enforcement and prosecutorial decisions.

 

Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Finance in respect of Keppel Offshore and Marine's (KOM) agreement to pay a US$422 million fine as part of a three-nation corruption probe settlement (a) whether the US Department of Justice's (DoJ) Deferred Prosecution Agreement on the KOM corruption probe settlement, or any other agreement, includes any condition that prevents the public disclosure of the identities of the Singaporeans who are involved; and (b) when does the Government expect the CPIB and AGC to formally complete investigations and to charge the individuals in question in view of the criminal findings made against KOM by the US DoJ.

 

Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Prime Minister (a) how much more time will the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) need to complete the investigations in respect of the Singaporeans involved in the Keppel Offshore & Marine (KOM) corruption case since KOM and its wholly-owned US subsidiary, KOM USA, have agreed to pay more than US$422 million in penalty to resolve corruption charges of paying about US$55 million in bribes to secure contracts; and (b) how far back in time will CPIB go to in its investigation into the Singaporeans involved since the corrupt activities were committed as early as 2001.

 

Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Finance (a) how many Singapore Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) or their subsidiaries locally or overseas have been investigated or continue to be investigated by local or overseas authorities for corrupt practices over the last 30 years; and (b) what role do the Ministry and Temasek Holdings play to ensure that GLCs or their subsidiaries do not engage in corrupt practices when conducting business overseas.

[Lala81]

Ain't entertainment another form of bribery?

 

Evening the tradition of buying gifts for my child's teacher is an indirect form.

 

It could be some chocolates or an LV wallet

 

hmmm nope lah. It's providing the right conditions to close a deal