A former Shell Eastern Petroleum employee on Tuesday (8 February) reportedly pleaded guilty for his leading role in the Shell MGO bunker heist in misappropriation of marine gas oil from the Pulau Bukom refinery for sale to other parties.
Former Shell employee Juandi bin Pungot, 45, then a Shore Loading Officer, and two others were said to be the key planners of the scheme to conduct illegal loadings in 2007.
Juandi pleaded guilty in the High Court of Singapore to 36 charges stemming from the misappropriation of over 300,000 mt, or SGD 127.7 million worth, of marine gas oil.
The charges include graft, laundering benefits from criminal conduct, and conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust as a servant.
He gained at least SGD 5.6 million from his crimes, spending the majority of it on luxury watches and vehicles, Singapore and foreign properties including a Hougang condominium unit, foreign exchange trading, gambling and investments.
Prosecutors are seeking almost 30 years’ jail for him, while his lawyer Noor Marican is requesting for 15 years instead.
His sentencing was adjourned to an undetermined date and was allowed to remain out on SGD 550,000 bail. The court will take into consideration another 49 charges for sentencing purposes.
According court documents obtained by Manifold Times previously, former Shell employees Juandi and colleague Abdul Latif bin Ibrahim first began to conduct illegal loadings in 2007.
Emboldened by their initial success, the duo expanded their illegal loadings to other bunker tankers, and recruited other colleagues into their scheme between 2008 and mid-2013.
Juandi and Abdul Latif subsequently recruited Muhammad Ashraf into the criminal syndicate no later than 2010.
At one point, their operations involved corruptly bribing independent surveyors appointed by Shell to conduct inspections on the quality and quantity of gasoil sold to vessels, to refrain from accurately reporting the presence of excess gasoil onboard vessels which had been misappropriated.
Two other former staff of Shell Eastern Petroleum, Muhammad Ashraf Hamzah and Sadagopan Premnath were sentenced to jail over their respective involvement in the theft of MGO from the Shell Bukom terminal.
Court proceedings against other allegedly involved parties, including former employees of Shell Pulau Bukom, are ongoing.
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Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 9 February, 2022
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