Wee Toon Boon

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
 Main Article
 Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
https://en.citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=Wee_Toon_Boon&printable=yes
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.


Wee Toon Boon
Other names 黄循文
Wee Toon Boon 1.jpg
Born 25 September 1929
Singapore
Died 26 May 2013
Occupation Politician
Political party People's Action Party

Wee Toon Boon (Chinese: 黄循文; pinyin: Huáng Xúnwén; 25 September 1929 – 26 May 2013) was a Singaporean politician, People's Action Party member, and Member of Parliament for Sepoy Lines Constituency from 1965 to 1976. He also served as Minister of State for Defence and Minister of State for the Environment. In September 1975, he was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to four years and six months in prison, which was reduced to 18 months upon appeal.

Corruption scandal

In April 1975,[1] Wee was charged with five counts of corruption under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.[2][3] According to an investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), between 5 May 1972 and 20 December 1974,[4] Wee had received bribes worth around S$839,000 from Indonesian property developer Lauw Tjin Ho, also known as Atang Latief,[5] through Wee's former schoolmate and Lauw's company secretary, Ong Keng Kok.[3] These bribes included new galvanised roofing for Wee's Greenmead Avenue bungalow,[4] a bungalow in Jalan Binchang (off Upper Thomson Road),[6] seven return air tickets to Jakarta,[4] and bank guarantees to purchase stocks using his father Wee Kok Kwang's name.[7]

Wee was represented by David Marshall, who described his client as a man who had been "quietly led down the slithering path of hell by a snake".[8] At the trial, which lasted for forty days, Wee maintained his innocence and claimed that "in all my discussions with (Lauw's company secretary) Ong, the question of gift, or expectation of gift, on my part has never been raised by me."[9] He explained that he did favours for Lauw simply because he "liked helping people".[10] Wee also alleged that officers from the CPIB had "threatened" his family.[11]

On 2 September 1975, District Judge T. S. Sinnathuray found Wee guilty of all five charges of corruption.[8] He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and fined S$7,023.[12] Wee was initially denied bail by Sinnathuray. On 5 September, however, he was granted bail of S$100,000 by High Court Judge Thilliampalam Kulasekaram.[13]

Wee appealed his conviction. His appeal lawyer, John Newey, claimed that "there is no provision under any law in Singapore to charge a minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act."[14] On 13 July 1976, Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin upheld Sinnathuray's ruling for four of the five charges.[13] However, he found that the conviction and three-year prison sentence for the remaining charge, which Sinnathuray had amended from the Solicitor-General's original wording of "did corruptly agree to accept (the two-storey bungalow from Lauw)" to "did corruptly accept",[15] was "clearly wrong".[13] The charge was thus quashed, which reduced Wee's sentence to 18 months (three consecutive six-month sentences for three charges and one concurrent six-month sentence for one charge).[13]

Wee's sentence began on the same day as Chief Justice Wee's appeal judgement.[13][16] However, he only resigned as a Member of Parliament for Sepoy Lines two months later.[lower-alpha 1][19] Wee's sentence was further reduced by one-third for good behaviour and he was released from Changi Prison on 11 July 1977.[20] Reflecting on Wee's case in 2000, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew remarked: "It was painful to confront him and hear his unconvincing protestations of innocence."[21]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Samsuri, Sufiyan. Iswaran charged: A look at some past corruption cases involving high-ranking government officials, CNA, 18 January 2024. Retrieved on 18 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "Millionaire: I admit to consciously bribing Wee", 5 August 1975, p. 6.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hwang, T.F.. "Toon Boon: 18 months' jail after appeal...", 14 July 1976, p. 1.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Chong200475
  5. ↑ Liew, Clement (2022). Scrupulous, Thorough, Fearless: The CPIB Story. World Scientific. ISBN 9789811267253. 
  6. ↑ "Toon Boon appeal opens", 13 April 1976, p. 1.
  7. ↑ "Why I did not reject Lauw's offer of a bungalow: Wee", 9 August 1975, p. 11.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lim, Peter H. L. (2009). Chronicle of Singapore, 1959–2009: Fifty Years of Headline News. Editions Didier Millet. ISBN 9789814217750. 
  9. ↑ "I had no idea bungalow was intended as a gift...", 19 August 1975, p. 6.
  10. ↑ "Wee: I like helping people", 15 August 1975, p. 1.
  11. ↑ "My family and I were threatened, Wee alleges", 9 August 1975, p. 10.
  12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Ang310896
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Hwang, T.F.. "Charge four 'clearly wrong'—so 3-year jail sentence is out...", 14 July 1976, p. 1.
  14. ↑ "QC: No provision in graft law to charge minister", 13 April 1976, p. 6.
  15. ↑ "SG: Wee was properly tried and convicted", 16 April 1976, p. 6.
  16. ↑ "Toon Boon freed", 12 July 1977, p. 1.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Wee is still an MP, says Barker", 5 September 1976, p. 7.
  18. ↑ Chia, Poteik. "Toon Boon gives up seat", 16 September 1976, p. 1. “The Attorney-General's interpretation of the constitution had left Wee's seat safe even though he is serving his sentence.”
  19. ↑ "House told: Toon Boon has quit", 25 November 1976, p. 13.
  20. ↑ "Wee: I have not yet decided my future", 16 July 1977, p. 2.
  21. ↑ Winters, Jeffrey A. (2011). Oligarchy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139495646. 



Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "lower-alpha", but no corresponding <references group="lower-alpha"/> tag was found

Retrieved from "https://citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=Wee_Toon_Boon&oldid=995949"