It’s Not a Crime as Long as We Make Money

 

Around five years ago, I had the honour of being taken out to lunch by a very prominent Emirati Businesswoman who proudly described herself as a “super saleswoman for Singapore” She described Singapore as “washing the face of the Oriental,” because we were the only Asian nation that stood in the top five nations of the world’s least corrupt nations.

I think this incident because its actually one of things the main things that people from elsewhere like about us. You could say that our reputation for non-corruption is our greatest strength. It’s like the one thing that we have that our neighbours don’t have. The multinationals will rush to enter the large emerging markets of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam but they will make sure contracts are signed under Singapore law. As my favourite Malaysian Datuk says, “As long as I stay away from politically sensitive topics in Singapore, the courts will treat me fairly.”

Unfortunately, it seems that our economic managers can’t grasp this concept and have sought to redefine corruption as something that only the people at the lower rung of the ladder get involved in. This was made clear by the announcement that our extremely vigilant and active “Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau” (CPIB) decided to let off six executives at Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel) with a stern warning (“You’re naught – don’t do it) for their role in a corruption scandal in Brazil. The outcry from the public was harsh and our second minister for national development, Ms. Indranee Rajah had to get up and defend the once stalwart CPIB. Her main point was that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the six:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/keppel-corruption-case-bribery-insufficient-evidence-former-employees-indranee-rajah-3256456

 

Prior to joining politics, Ms. Rajah was a senior lawyer, holding the title SC (Senior Counsel – the Singapore version of King’s Counsel). You could say that this makes Ms. Rajah a very credible person to make such a statement. However, this comes after Keppel had to make a resolution of S$88 million to Brazilian authorities back in 2017 for “corrupt” practices and the Brazilian litigation wasn’t the only one.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/keppel-offshore-marine-pay-s88-million-resolution-brazilian-authorities-corruption-case-3156681

 

 The American justice department also got involved.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-keppel-corp-settlement-lawyer-idUSKBN1EL1C1

Keppel’s legal strategy has been to blame its agents in Brazil. However, given the sums involved, its hard to believe that somebody or some parties involved had to have authorised the release of the sums to the agents. Then, there’s also the standard point that Singapore’s authorities like to use – “If the Company has nothing to hide, why settle with Brazilian and US authorities?”

To be fair to Keppel, it was doing business in Brazil, which ranks as the 96^th most corrupt country in the world according to Transparency International. As a Brazilian friend of my family once stated, “If you work in the civil service and haven’t made your fortune after four years, you must stupid.”

The fact remains that growth markets are now in places like Brazil and Brazil is a very big, must-be-in market for just about any company with international aspirations. There is also the fact that the squeaky cogs in the machinery of business need to be oiled. Singapore’s karaoke bars do a very brisk trade because wheels of commerce do need to greasing.

Singapore’s unofficial minister of promoting the inexcusable, or the Critical Spectator has even gone as far as to promote the six for their role in the whole affair:

 

His argument is simple, the six did what they needed to do and made money for the Company, which in turn is good for Singapore.

As he so often does, our unofficial minister of promoting the inexcusable misses the point. Sure, the line between the legitimate and illegal can be thin and at times blurry when it comes to “greasing the wheels of commerce,” but the line exists – even in countries that rank lowly on Transparency International’s rankings. These countries struggle with corruption because the culture is often ingrained and the enforcers are often compromised. As such, the countries that rank higher on the index also have laws meant to ensure that companies domiciled on their soil don’t engage in corrupt practices elsewhere.

Nobody accepts that corruption is a good thing. What is accepted is that there are countries which are more corrupt than others and these countries need to be helped combat corruption.

In the case of Keppel, that line, as the litigation in the US has shown, has clearly been crossed. Its not like there was an exoneration in the US and Brazil and Singapore only following suite.

Things get even more complicated when you consider the fact that Keppel’s largest shareholder in Temasek and its chairman is a former minister. It does without saying that the dirt on Keppel is ultimately going to be slashed at the government’s door.

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first Prime Minister, had a very simple policy. He clamped down on the people at the top. Mr. Lee was very sensitive to any taint of corruption and ensured that even the smallest whisper of it was dealt with swiftly and publicly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncYO9YYqbv4

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case here and the public has been allowed to wonder if the “stern warning” issued to the six men is an effort to protect people rather than a genuine case of proven innocent.

Singapore’s greatest strength is that of non-corruption. It’s something we cannot afford to squander by redefining the meaning of corruption when senior people at the top of the food chain are involved in scandals.