Seafood supplier charged with giving $1m in bribes

A SEAFOOD supplier was brought to court on Tuesday for corruptly giving bribes totalling about $992,000 to 19 chefs.

Tay Ee Tiong, 55, owner of Wealthy Seafood Product and Enterprise, is the first to be charged, following a 2009 probe by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau into more than 20 top chefs who allegedly accepted the kickbacks.

Tay, who faces 223 charges, is said to have given bribes of between $232 and $24,143 between 2006 and 2009 to chefs of popular Chinese restaurants and five-star hotels to advance his company's business by ensuring that they continued to buy seafood products from his company.

The chefs were from 17 restaurants. Among them are PFS Pte Ltd, Shangri-La Hotel, Meritus Mandarin, Marriott Hotel, Goodwood Park Hotel, Grand Hyatt, Four Seasons Hotel, Sheraton Hotel and Por Kee Eating House.

If convicted, Tay faces a fine of up to $100,000 and/or a jail term of up to five years on each charge.

ORIGINAL SOURCE