Man admits to helping steal $18.4m of fuel
A bunker clerk was employed at a firm dealing with fuels when he helped it acquire more than 28,000 tonnes of misappropriated marine gas oil worth around US$13.58 million (nearly S$18.36 million, according to court documents).
On Nov 29, Wong Wai Meng, a 58-year-old Singaporean who received more than $286,000 from Singapore-based Sentek Marine & Trading for his assistance, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of intentionally helping the firm acquire the misappropriated fuel.
Wong’s job scope included facilitating the transfer and receipt of cargo, such as gas oil, on board a bunkering vessel called Sentek 22. He committed the offences over 46 occasions between August 2014 and December 2017.
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.
Several 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, the prosecution said that the rogue Shell employees had sold misappropriated gas oil to Sentek, which agreed to buy it at prices lower than the prevailing estimated market value.
The prosecution told the court that in 2013, Wong and one Alvin Koh Koon Yian, 53, were assigned as bunker clerks to Sentek 22.
The prosecution added that another man, Ng Hock Teck, 61, who was then a manager at Sentek, later told Wong about a “project” in which the vessel would receive extra gas oil on top of the official amount it should get.
The cases involving Ng and Koh are still pending.
Deputy public prosecutors Christopher Ong, Ryan Lim, Niranjan Ranjakunalan and Huo Jiongrui stated in court documents: “(Wong) therefore knew that he would be aiding Sentek acquire misappropriated gas oil from Shell Pulau Bukom and understood that this was approved by Sentek’s management.”
They added that Ng had relied on rogue Shell employees’ duty rosters to identify dates for Sentek 22 to make trips to Shell Pulau Bukom to receive both the official and illegal loadings.
As the loading dates approached, the bunker clerks, on Ng’s instructions, would inform Shell of the desired time slots to receive the official loadings.
Sentek later sold the misappropriated gas oil to its customers, including foreign vessels, at or around market price, while some of the fuel was transferred to its other vessels.
According to court documents, Wong and Koh were paid $10 for every tonne of misappropriated gas oil. There were also times when the pair were paid more as incentives, added the DPPs.
In March 2015, Wong was assigned to another vessel called Sentek 26, which was also used to receive misappropriated fuel.
Koh resigned from Sentek in May 2017 and another man, Mr Boo Pu Wen, was assigned to Sentek 22 as his replacement.
Three months later, a Shell representative lodged a police report over an unidentified loss of gas oil worth around $3 million.
Wong went to Indonesia in early 2018 and Mr Boo also joined him there, before the pair stayed in Batam until January 2021.
During his stay, Wong received $500 monthly between April and September 2018. This was increased to $1,000, and he was paid this amount on most months between December 2018 and December 2020.
On Jan 16, 2021, he voluntarily returned to Singapore and was arrested soon after.
Wong and Mr Boo, then 55, were charged in court in October 2022. However, Mr Boo died in July 2023 and had his charges abated, marking the end of his court proceedings.
Wong will be sentenced on Jan 10, 2025.
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