Indian jailed in case linked to petroleum theft at Singapore refinery

Singapore, June 30

A 39-year-old Indian national in Singapore was on Thursday sentenced to four weeks’ jail and ordered to pay a penalty, equivalent to the bribe amount he received in 2016 from a Shell employee, according to a media report.

Paramanandham Srinivasan, a surveyor, who accepted USD 3,000 as bribe from Muzaffar Ali Khan Muhamad Akram, a Shell employee, and turned a blind eye to the misappropriation of gas oil at Shell Pulau Bukom refinery.

Srinivasan pleaded guilty to one corruption charge.

He was sentenced to four weeks’ jail and ordered to pay a penalty of SGD 4,046.70 – the local dollar equivalent of the bribe amount by a court here, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

Srinivasan, was among 12 surveyors who were charged on April 14 for allegedly accepting bribes from then Shell employees Muzaffar, Juandi Pungot and Richard Goh Chee Keong, the report said.

Paramanandham had spotted Muzaffar sometime around April 28, 2016, on board a vessel which his company was engaged to inspect.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew said in court documents that Paramanandham’s company, SGS Testing and Control Services Singapore, offered surveying services, including the inspection of the quantity of cargo supplied to vessels in Singapore by suppliers like Shell.

After receiving the bribe, the accused did not accurately report the amount of cargo loaded onto that vessel and turned a blind eye to Muzaffar’s misappropriation of gas oil at Shell Pulau Bukom, Yew said.

“By these actions, the accused helped Muzaffar, Juandi and their co-conspirators to conceal the misappropriation of gas oil,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Yew said.

As a result of Paramanandham’s action, the misappropriation of Shell oil worth USD 236,956.14 went undetected by the company in 2016.

The maximum penalty for corruption is a SGD 100,000 fine and five years in jail, the report said.