SINGAPORE - A man wanted to stop the corrupt practices of his family construction business after he took over its operations, but failed and eventually continued the graft-related arrangements.

Toh Yong Soon, who was working as a project manager at Shin Yong Construction (SYC) at the time, then went on to work with his father and senior executives at other firms to give more than $1.8 million in bribes to a facilities management director at the Singapore Zoological Gardens.

In total, the companies linked to the bribe-givers were awarded jobs worth around $15.5 million.

On May 3, Toh, 39, was sentenced to three years and three months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to 12 graft charges. Another 47 charges were considered during sentencing.

According to court documents, he committed the offences from July 2015 to October 2016 to advance the business interests of multiple firms, including SYC, with Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS).

The Singapore Zoological Gardens – now known as the Singapore Zoo – was a subsidiary of WRS.

The case also involved inflated invoices in which WRS overpaid a sum of more than $1.9 million.

The prosecution said that Toh had taken a cut of up to $118,100 before handing over the bribes to Barry Chong Peng Wee, 57, whose case is pending.

Chong has since left WRS, now known as the Mandai Wildlife Group.

Deputy public prosecutors Kelvin Chong, Shamini Joseph and Darren Sim stated in court documents that Toh was the main link between Barry Chong and all the other contractors.

Stressing that Toh even recruited others into the corrupt scheme, the DPPs added: “Barry informed the accused the prices to bid at and the amount of commission owed to him.

“The accused would then convey the information to the other contractors and hand the bribes from these contractors to Barry.”

One of the contractors, Tan Chuan Hong, then 47, was sentenced to 14 months’ jail in September 2023. He was a director at Hong Power Engineering at the time of the offences.

In October 2023, Toh’s uncle, Too Say Kiong, then 57, was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail.

The cases involving Toh’s father, Toh Say Yong, 69, and the men linked to the other firms are still pending.

The prosecutors said that Toh Yong Soon’s grandfather had set up SYC before he died in 2004.

Too and Toh Yong Soon’s father then carried on the company’s business.

The DPPs said that in 2005, the two men entered into a corrupt arrangement with Barry Chong.

As part of the deal, Chong would ensure that WRS jobs were awarded to SYC in exchange for cash. Toh Yong Soon joined SYC in 2009 and found out about the plan later.

In late 2015, Toh Yong Soon and Too had a falling out, and the older man was removed from SYC.

Toh Yong Soon, who took over SYC’s operations from his uncle, then had a meeting with Barry Chong.

The prosecutors told the court: “The accused informed Barry that SYC wished to simply bid for jobs... and not to pay Barry a ‘commission’ for the jobs that WRS awarded to SYC.

“But Barry disagreed. Barry said that if SYC wanted jobs from WRS then the accused had to ‘assist’ Barry by refreshing the participants in this scheme.”

The DPPs said that Toh Yong Soon met Chong around two weeks later and agreed to continue with the corrupt arrangement.

The invoices or quotations SYC submitted to WRS would be marked up so that Chong would obtain the inflated value as “commission”, the court heard.

Toh Yong Soon also agreed to recruit other contractors to join the corrupt arrangement. According to court documents, he later roped in multiple men linked to the other firms.

Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light but the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau started looking into the case in October 2016.

Toh Yong Soon was among a group of people who were later charged in court in September 2021.