Jail for man who helped acquire $17m worth of stolen fuel

A bunker clerk helped the Singapore-based company he worked for acquire more than 27,000 tonnes of misappropriated gas oil worth around US$12.82 million (more than S$17.4 million, according to court documents) in total.

Wong Kuin Wah, who was then working for Sentek Marine & Trading, committed the offences over 45 occasions between August 2014 and January 2018.

The firm was involved in buying and selling fuels, including gas oil, at the time of the offences, with Wong assigned to a bunkering vessel called Sentek 26.

The 61-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to 12 counts of facilitating the receipt of the misappropriated fuel before he was sentenced to seven years and six months’ jail on Nov 18.

Sixteen other charges were considered during sentencing. He also had 12 graft charges withdrawn and the court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for them. This means, he cannot be charged again over the same offences.

Gas oil is refined crude oil and is often used as fuel and an alternative to diesel in some countries.

The fuel had been dishonestly misappropriated from Shell Eastern Petroleum’s Pulau Bukom facility by a group of rogue Shell employees.

The former employees, who were key members of the group, were dealt with in court earlier.

The group had secretly siphoned off more than 200,000 tonnes of gas oil worth more than $120 million between August 2014 and January 2018.

For the current case, court documents quoted the prosecution as stating that the rogue Shell employees had sold misappropriated gas oil to Sentek, which agreed to buy the fuel at a price that was 60 per cent of the prevailing estimated market value.

At a later date, the purchase price was raised to 62.5 per cent of the prevailing estimated market value.

Some time in 2013, Wong and Alan Tan Cheng Chuan, 52, were assigned as bunker clerks to Sentek 26.

According to court documents, another man, Ng Hock Teck, 61, who was then a manager in charge of Sentek’s operations, told the pair they would be helping the firm receive misappropriated gas oil on board the vessel.

They would also be paid $10 for every tonne of fuel unlawfully received, which would be equally shared between Tan and Wong.

The prosecutors said that Wong received criminal benefits totalling more than $274,000 during the time he committed the offences.

They told the court: “(Ng) relied on the duty rosters of the rogue Shell employees to identify dates for Sentek 26 to make trips to Shell Pulau Bukom to receive the official loading... as well as the illegal loading.

“These loading dates coincided with the dates the rogue Shell employees were rostered for duty.”

Nearer the loading dates, the bunker clerks, on Ng’s instructions, would inform Shell of the desired time slots to receive official loadings.

Once Sentek 26 was berthed at a wharf on Pulau Bukom, at least one of the rogue Shell employees would board the vessel to provide an estimate of the misappropriated gas oil it would receive alongside the official loading. The bunker clerk on board Sentek 26 would then facilitate the receipt of both the official and illegal loadings.

Sentek later sold the misappropriated gas oil to its customers, including foreign vessels, at or around market price. Some of the fuel was also transferred to its other vessels.

On Jan 9, 2018, Wong reported for work on board Sentek 26 before he went to Batam by boat with another bunker clerk.

The prosecutors said the pair then met Sentek founder Pai Keng Pheng, 61, who told them to remain out of Singapore and stay at a Batam hotel he had arranged for them.

During his stay, Wong was paid $500 monthly and this amount was doubled around early 2019. He was also paid $80,000 in four monthly instalments.

His wife in Singapore received around $5,000 a month.

However, he returned to Singapore on Jan 16, 2021, and was arrested soon after.

The cases involving Pai, Tan and Ng are still pending.

On Nov 18, defence lawyer Victor David Lau from Drew & Napier pleaded for Wong to be given four years and 11 months’ jail.

He added: “Kuin Wah was beholden to... Sentek for fear of any retaliation. Should he not obey the instructions of his superiors, he could be easily fired and replaced.”

Wong’s bail has been set at $30,000 and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Dec 2.