Four men charged by CPIB for cheating offences for contracts worth $9.8 million

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) charged four men, one SMRT Trains employee and two others who previously worked for the rail operator, as well as a company director, in court on Friday (29 December) for cheating offences involving contracts worth of a total of S$9.8 million which allegedly took place between 2007 and 2012

They were allegedly concealed their interest in two firms that won the contracts over the years.

CPIB stated in a news release that three of them, SMRT Trains line manager Zulkifli Marwi, 52, were allegedly conspired with two former colleagues, Jamalludin Jumari, 61, and Zakaria Mohamed Shariff, 59, and the managing director of construction company Enovation Technologies Akbar Ali Tambishahib, 60.

The three SMRT employees were each charged with four counts of conspiring with each other to cheat SMRT Trains by dishonestly concealing the fact that they had an interest in Enovation Industries (EI), resulting in SMRT being deceived into awarding contracts worth S$3,900,000 to EI.

CPIB also said that Akbar Ali, Jamalludin, Zakaria were also charged with 24 counts each of conspiring with each other to cheat SMRT Trains by dishonestly concealing the fact that they had an interest in Enovation Technology (ET), resulting in SMRT being deceived into awarding contracts worth S$5,900,000 to ET.

Jamalludin is a former manager at SMRT Trains, while Zakaria is a former assistant engineer with the rail operator. The four men each face 24 cheating charges for their role in the alleged conspiracy.

In a seperated case, Jamalludin, Zakaria and Akbar also face four counts each of cheating SMRT Trains into awarding contracts amounting to around S$3.9 million to Enovation Industries, which Akbar is also the managing director of.

According to CPIB, Jamalludin fled Singapore in 2013 and was recently arrested in Malaysia with the assistance of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

"The CPIB had worked closely with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission who acted expeditiously on our request for assistance," CPIB said.

If convicted of cheating, they could be sentenced to up to seven years’ jail and fined for each count.