The State Courts of the Republic of Singapore on Thursday (26 May) issued jail sentences ranging between four to eight months to a total three cargo surveyors from Intertek Testing Services Pte Ltd (Intertek) and Inspectorate Singapore Pte Ltd (Inspectorate) due to their involvement in the Shell MGO bunker heist.
Anand S/O Omprekas and Noruliman Bin Bakti were both surveyors employed by Intertek while Muhammad Khairul Asri Bin Mohamad Hanafiah worked for Inspectorate when the offences involving corruption were commited, according to court documents obtained by Singapore bunkering publication Manifold Times.
The group were tasked to verify the quantity of cargo supplied to vessels in Singapore by suppliers such as Shell Eastern Petroleum Private Limited (Shell).
They would board the vessels to check on the quantity of the cargo loaded into the nominated and non-nominated tanks of the vessels, before and after the loading of the cargo to the vessels was completed.
After conducting the inspections, the surveyors must prepare ullage reports which stated accurately the amount of cargo loaded onto the vessels. These ullage reports would be submitted to their respective survey firms and Shell.
Anand S/O Omprekas – Six months imprisonment and penalty of SGD 20,000 (effective 26 May 2022)
Anand was found to have accepted gratification of a total SGD 10,000 from Juandi bin Pungot and Muzaffar Ali Khan bin Muhamad Akram over five occasions in 2014 while under the employment of Intertek.
Under Juandi and Muzaffar’s instructions, Anand did not accurately report the amount of cargo loaded onto vessels which Intertek was engaged to inspect.
In 2016, when Anand was a surveyor of CCIC Singapore Pte Ltd (CCIC), he continued to receive money from Muzaffar in exchange for falsifying the amount of cargo loaded onto vessels which CCIC was engaged to inspect while keeping quiet about the misappropriation of gasoil taking place at Shell Pulau Bukom.
As a result of Anand’s assistance in concealing the misappropriation of gasoil, two incidents of misappropriation of Shell gasoil (worth USD 668,152.16) went undetected by Shell in 2016.
Noruliman Bin Bakti – Eight months imprisonment and penalty of USD 25,000 (effective 4 July 2022)
Noruliman accepted total gratification of USD 15,000 from an Intertek colleague over three occasions between 2014 and 2015 for not accurately reporting the amount of cargo loaded onto vessels which Intertek was engaged to inspect.
In 2016, when Noruliman became a surveyor of CCIC, he continued his arrangement with Muzaffar to receive money from him to inaccurately report the amount of cargo loaded onto vessels which CCIC was engaged to inspect while keeping quiet about the misappropriation of gasoil taking place at Shell Pulau Bukom.
As a result of his assistance in concealing the activity, one incident of misappropriation of Shell gasoil (worth USD 239,958.60) went undetected by Shell in 2016.
Noruliman was also found to be working with Anand in two incidents of misappropriation of Shell gasoil (mentioned above).
Muhammad Khairul Asri Bin Mohamad Hanafiah – Four months imprisonment and penalty of USD 6,000 (effective 27 June 2022)
Khairul was found to have accepted total gratification of USD 6,000 from Juandi and Muzaffar over two occasions between 2016 and 2017 for inaccurately reporting the amount of cargo loaded onto vessels which Inspectorate was engaged to inspect.
As a result of Khairul’s assistance in concealing the misappropriation of gasoil, two incidents of misappropriation of Shell gasoil (worth USD 1,408,881.57) went undetected by Shell in 2016 and 2017.
Manifold Times in April reported a group of 12 surveyors being charged in Court for corruption offences in connection to the conspiracy to misappropriate oil from the Shell Pulau Bukom site. Altogether, the 12 individuals allegedly accepted bribes totalling at least USD 213,000 between 2014 to 2017.
Note: Court proceedings against other allegedly involved parties, including former employees of Shell Pulau Bukom, are ongoing. A list of earlier developments recorded by Manifold Times are as follows:
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Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 30 May, 2022