Singapore, Jan 16 (IANS): A former Indian-origin deputy director of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) was sentenced to 55 weeks in prison on Tuesday for awarding supply contracts to sports bodies to companies connected to him or his wife.
Rikram Jit Singh Randhir Singh, 43, abused his position by inducing FAS to spend S$609,380, from which he and his wife Asha Kirin Kames He admitted that he made a profit of S$127,896.
Their profits will be seized by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and returned to the FAS, The Straits Times reported.
Singh pled guilty to fraud charges on January 3 and 15, and 30 additional charges were considered at sentencing.
The court dropped all 46 charges against Singh’s wife, Asha, mainly for cheating, and granted her immunity, which is the equivalent of an acquittal. This means she cannot be charged with the same crime again.
“The family is relieved that the matter is over and they can now move on with their lives,” the couple’s lawyer Satwant Singh told The Straits Times.
FAS is responsible for the development and development of football in Singapore and receives part of its funding from Sport Singapore, which falls under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.
Singh joined FAS in December 2010 as marketing manager and rose through the ranks to become deputy general manager in July 2017.
Asha, who was not married to Singh at the time, left FAS in December 2013 to start her own company, All Resource Network (ARN), specializing in event management and sales of sports and recreational equipment. I retired.
Asha and Singh spoke frequently as ARN regularly organizes or supports FAS events. They soon became romantically involved and got married in 2018.
In 2016, Singh persuaded his former colleague Palaniappan Ravindran not to wind down his unprofitable company Myriad Sports and Events. You can then use that as an excuse to quote a supply job and pass it on to the ARN.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tigesh Sukhumran told the court that Mr Ravindran had agreed to the plan because of their friendship, but had no idea who the actual suppliers would be.
Following Mr. Singh’s recommendation, FAS management approved Myriad’s quotation and awarded $116,335 for the purchase of clappers, stress balls, scroll banners, and football scarves between July 2016 and February 2017. Paid Singapore dollars.
In one instance, Mr. Ravindran submitted a quote for 130,000 clapboards worth S$28,600. The Straits Times said the funds were handed over to Mr Singh and ARN supplied the goods to FAS.
Singh continued to work with Asha and Ravindran to deceive FAS into paying a further S$287,300 to Myriad between October 2017 and October 2018.
In October 2017, Asha transferred ownership of ARN to Rikuram’s friend Shankar Spear, as she was planning to marry Singh and did not want FAS to know about their conflict of interest.
However, Asya still controlled ARN and it was agreed that she would receive 60 percent of the company’s profits. The court heard that Mr Singh, Mr Asha and Mr Shankar defrauded FAS into paying an additional S$58,100 for the supply of clapboards and banners.
Their crimes came to light in January 2019 when CPIB received information that Mr Singh had misappropriated funds from FAS.
An independent audit conducted by the company found that ARN did not pay more than market price for the products it supplied.
In November 2022, Mr. Sappia pleaded guilty to engaging in FAS fraud and was sentenced to four months in prison. Ravindran’s case is still pending in court.