SINGAPORE - The manager of a car dealership has been jailed and fined for giving kickbacks to a purchasing manager of Lion City Rentals to advance his business interests.

Ong Jiajie, 32, who was the manager of dealership D&M Capital, had earlier pleaded guilty to two corruption charges.

Another five similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

On Tuesday (May 11), he was jailed for six months and fined $129,422.

If he fails to pay the fine, he faces another 10 weeks in jail.

Also accused in the case are Jeremy Yu Jin Han, 41; Darren Zeng Shao Rong and Isaac Lai Zhi Yao, both 40.

All four were charged last year with allegedly taking part in a corruption conspiracy involving more than $388,000.

The cases of the other three are still before the courts.

Zeng was a manager and partner at Aiden Solutions LLP, which was also a car dealership.

Lai oversaw the financial matters of both Aiden and D&M.

Yu was a purchasing manager at Lion City Rentals when he approached the others in 2015.

His job involved procuring vehicles from suppliers for the car rental company, which was owned by ride-hailing firm Uber till it was sold in 2019.

In September 2015, Yu met Ong, Zeng and Lai and they agreed to a corrupt arrangement whereby he would use his position to have D&M and Aiden appointed as vehicle suppliers to the company, in return for cash kickbacks of half of their total profits from the arrangement.

Despite knowing the arrangement was corrupt, Ong agreed to it as he wanted to improve his standard of living.

In 2016, Yu received kickbacks from the trio on two occasions, totalling $171,000. The sum related to the supply of 200 vehicles supplied by Aiden and D&M to Lion City Rentals.

Ong received $129,422 as his share of the profits from the corrupt arrangement.

For each corruption charge, he could have been jailed for up to five years or fined up to $100,000, or both.