SINGAPORE: Three former auxiliary police officers were charged on Friday (Nov 3) with offences of corruption or criminal breach of trust linked to sex enhancement drugs.
Two of them are accused of seeking bribes from an alleged peddler in exchange for not taking enforcement action against him.
Of the three officers, two are also accused of taking the illegal sex enhancement drugs for their own use.
The three ex-officers charged on Friday are: Malaysian Thiru Murugan Shanmugam, 30; 66-year-old Singaporean Mohd Aris Jalil; and 30-year-old Singaporean Mohammad Hafizudin Hanapiah.
Thiru and Aris were Certis Cisco auxiliary police officers attached to the Singapore Police Force, while Hafizudin was a Certis Cisco security officer attached to SPF.
A fourth man, 30-year-old Chinese national and alleged sex drug peddler Chen Zixiong, was charged with giving bribes.
Thiru is accused of conspiring with Hafizudin on two occasions between May and June last year to obtain bribes of S$140 from Chen, in exchange for not taking enforcement action against him for peddling sex enhancement drugs.
Thiru also allegedly obtained S$750 in bribes from Chinese national Chen Dongliang in July 2022, similarly for refraining from taking legal enforcement action against him for selling sex drugs.
On top of the charge of conspiring with Thiru, Hafizudin is accused of criminal breach of trust by pocketing seized illegal sex enhancement drugs worth S$106 for his own use between June and September 2022.
The drugs had been entrusted to him in his capacity as a Certis Cisco security officer attached to SPF.
The third former officer, Aris, is accused of criminal breach of trust by misappropriating sex drugs worth S$188 on an occasion before Sep 13, 2022.
Hafizudin and Aris said they intended to plead guilty. Chen said via a Mandarin interpreter that he was “unsure” and asked for time to seek legal advice.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a statement that Singapore adopts “a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption” and that the bureau looks into all corruption complaints and reports.
If convicted of a corruption offence, a person can be jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$100,000, or both.
For criminal breach of trust, an offender can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
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