SINGAPORE: The managing director of a company dealing with ship parts was jailed on Wednesday for 14 weeks after giving out bribes totalling S$78,500.

Fifty—one—year—old James Lim Hwa Chin from Keyser Technologies was also ordered to pay a fine of S$25,000.

He had pleaded guilty to four of the nine charges against him.

Court documents stated that between July 2006 and July 2008, Lim had given S$60,500 to 64—year—old Bindra Jaskirat Singh, who was a fleet manager with MOL Tankship Management, a shipping company.

This was so that Singh would show favour to Keyser Technologies by influencing MOL to award contracts to it.

In exchange, Lim would give him a portion of Keyser’s profits earned from such contracts.

He also suggested to Singh he would disguise all monies paid under this agreement as items such as " director fees" .

Singh has already been charged and he will be dealt with in court at a later date.

—CNA/wk

SINGAPORE: A dispute has broken out between the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and the People’s Action Party Member of Parliament Sitoh Yih Pin over what was allegedly promised for the leadership transition at Potong Pasir Town Council.

At the heart of the wrangle are the 16 town council employees, who were last week offered re—employment and deployment to other town councils by EM Services, the managing agent newly contracted by Mr Sitoh to manage the town council.

Out of the 16 employees, three were retained in Potong Pasir Town Council. According to employees whom MediaCorp spoke to, the remaining 13 were issued termination letters.

Mr Sitoh explained that the termination letters were issued " in accordance to" the employees’ contracts and the terminated staff were asked to re—apply with EM Services. So far, only six had submitted their re—application forms, said Mr Sitoh.

One employee in his fifties said he knew of at least three colleagues who have decided not to reapply, as they were " unhappy" with the arrangement.

The arrangement is not what Mr Sitoh had promised Mrs Lina Chiam, his SPP opponent at the recent General Election, claims the Opposition party, whose second assistant secretary—general Benjamin Pwee has drafted a " request letter" to the Potong Pasir MP.

MediaCorp understands that Mr Pwee will deliver the letter to the town council on Thursday.

According to a copy of the letter obtained by MediaCorp, SPP claims that Mr Sitoh had pledged, in front of SPP and PAP counting agents in the early hours after Polling Day, to " keep all the staff at the town council" after Mrs Chiam had expressed concern about their jobs at the town council.

When contacted on Wednesday, Mr Sitoh refuted SPP’s claims.

" At that time, I didn’t know the inside workings of the town council and how many staff there were, so my exact words to her, " Since you asked, I’ll try my best to see what I can do" ," he said.

" And I think I’ve kept to my word: I negotiated with EM Services and I must give credit to EM Services. They said, " Don’t worry, we’ll take the staff" ."

As for his decision not to keep most of the town council employees at Potong Pasir, Mr Sitoh said he could not keep everybody, as he has to abide by EM Services’ regulations.

" It has its own way of doing things that is developed over the years, which is why I adopt this system. My paramount interest is the Potong Pasir residents, so EM Services has to bring in its own people. I can’t compromise on standards of services I deliver to residents."

He added that EM Services will probably have to train some of the Potong Pasir town council employees under its own training programme.

Town council employees whom MediaCorp spoke to expressed concern about the situation, especially after they were told that when re—employed, they would be put on a six—month probation under EM Service’s terms and conditions. When asked about the probation period, Mr Sitoh said this was standard human resource policy for all EM Services staff. He added: " If they’re good performers, what’s the worry?" —

TODAY

Mention beautiful lips and immediately the bee-stung puckers of Angelina Jolie and Marilyn Monroe come to mind.

Sexy, voluptuous lips have long been an object of desire for women, but we shouldn't have to resort to sticking needles in them to achieve a fuller pout. Coreenna Ong, founder of Vitasence, a successful homegrown brand of natural and herbal skin care, shares a few beauty tips that will do the trick.

Asian skin differs plenty from the Caucasian race. Our differences lay beyond just our skin tone or colour but also in the way the layers of our skin are constructed within. Find out more about how Asian skin works and the specific beauty tips on how to get a healthy, radiant complexion.

The country's second most populous state Victoria is due to approve new legislation this week under which police will be able to slap fines of up to Aus$240 (US$257) on people using offensive words or phrases.

Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark said the penalties, similar to those issued for speeding or parking illegally, would free up police time.

" This will give the police the tools they need to be able to act against this sort of obnoxious behaviour on the spot, rather than having to drag offenders off to court and take up time and money in proceedings," he said.

But even the state's top lawyer admitted to swearing sometimes.

" Occasionally I mutter things under my breath as probably everybody does," he told ABC radio.

" But this law is not targeted at that, it's targeted at the sort of obnoxious, offensive behaviour in public that makes life unpleasant for everybody else."

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has advised Singaporeans travelling to Germany to observe good hygiene and avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and leafy vegetables.

They must also ensure that the food is thoroughly cooked before consumption.

The MOH also asks persons returning from Germany to seek medical care immediately if they develop diarrhoea and abdominal cramps.

The advice, posted on MOH’s website, comes after an E.coli outbreak linked to cucumbers killed at least 14 in Germany and one woman in Sweden who is believed to have been infected in Germany.

Singapore’s Agri—Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has responded by placing leafy vegetables, cucumbers and tomatoes from Spain and Germany on " hold and test" checks, meaning they can only be released for consumption after they are cleared of contaminants.

AVA has since extended the checks to leafy vegetables, cucumbers and tomatoes from the European Union.

A spokesperson from supermarkets Jasons, Cold Storage and Market Place said they were selling organic garlic from Spain but removed them from the shelves on 30 May and sent for lab tests.

The spokesperson added the supermarkets had also a small amount of vegetables imported from Europe, but they were also removed and sent for lab tests.

— CNA/al/ir

SINGAPORE: The Agri—Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) is extending checks for the industrial plasticiser DEHP in bubble tea ingredients.

This comes as the Taiwan food scare involving DEHP, which can affect the hormone balance in young people, continues.

AVA is also checking fruit jams, jellies and juices manufactured in Taiwan for DEHP.

Some bubble tea retailers say they have sent eight to nine ingredients to AVA for checks, though they only need to send in two to three.

And they did this, they say, despite having their ingredients checked in Taiwan earlier.

Maria Goh, operation manager of bubble tea retailer " Come Buy" , said: " We have about 150 stalls worldwide...eight countries have our bubble tea stalls. So we (want to) make sure that (customers) everywhere, like Japan, Hong Kong, Macau and Shanghai, they drink it with confidence."

— CNA/ir