Wee Toon Boon

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Wee Toon Boon
黄循文
Member of Parliament
for Sepoy Lines
In office
8 December 1965 – 11 September 1976
Prime MinisterLee Kuan Yew
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born25 September 1929
Died26 May 2013(2013-05-26) (aged 83)
Political partyPeople's Action Party
SpouseKoh Goh Moy
Children5

Wee Toon Boon (Chinese: 黄循文; pinyin: Huáng Xúnwén; 25 September 1929 – 26 May 2013) was a Singaporean politician and Member of Parliament for Sepoy Lines Constituency from 1965 to 1976. A member of the People's Action Party, 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.

Civil career[edit]

Prior to entering politics, Wee worked as an assistant records clerk in the City Engineer's Department.[1] He was also the general secretary of the Singapore City Council Service Union.[2] Wee was re-elected as general secretary in September 1957 but resigned in November to contest the Kampong Kapor ward in the 1957 Singapore City Council election.[3]

Political career[edit]

In December 1957, Wee was elected as a city councillor for the Kampong Kapor ward with 51.8% of the votes against Ng Teik Sim of the Liberal Socialist Party.[4][5] In 1959, he was elected as assemblyman for Sepoy Lines Constituency. The same year, he was appointed as parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Labour and Law.[5] Wee was Minister of State for Defence from 1965 to September 1972,[5][6][7] following which he served as Minister of State for the Environment until 1975.[8] He was also acting Minister for Culture from 1969 to 1970.[9] Wee represented Sepoy Lines at the first, second, and third Parliaments of Singapore.[10]

Corruption charges[edit]

In April 1975,[11] Wee was charged with five counts of corruption under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.[12][13] According to an investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), between 5 May 1972 and 20 December 1974,[5] Wee had received bribes worth around S$839,000 from Indonesian property developer Lauw Tjin Ho, also known as Atang Latief,[14] through Wee's former schoolmate and Lauw's company secretary, Ong Keng Kok.[13] These bribes included new galvanised roofing for Wee's Greenmead Avenue bungalow,[5] a bungalow in Jalan Binchang (off Upper Thomson Road),[15] seven return air tickets to Jakarta,[5] and bank guarantees to purchase stocks using his father Wee Kok Kwang's name.[16]

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".[17] 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."[18] He explained that he did favours for Lauw simply because he "liked helping people".[19] Wee also alleged that officers from the CPIB had "threatened" his family.[20]

On 2 September 1975, District Judge T. S. Sinnathuray found Wee guilty of all five charges of corruption.[17] He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and fined S$7,023.[21] 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.[22]

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."[23] On 13 July 1976, Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin upheld Sinnathuray's ruling for four of the five charges.[22] 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",[24] was "clearly wrong".[22] 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).[22]

Wee's sentence began on the same day as Chief Justice Wee's appeal judgement.[22][25] However, he only resigned as a Member of Parliament for Sepoy Lines two months later.[a][28] Wee's sentence was further reduced by one-third for good behaviour and he was released from Changi Prison on 11 July 1977.[29] 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."[30]

Business career[edit]

After leaving politics, Wee became a director of gambling ship operator Winds Cruises. In 1993, he secured a borrowing agreement with International Factors Leasing (IFL). However, Winds Cruises collapsed the next year, at which time Wee owed the Bank of Singapore and IFL S$1.8 million and S$2.9 million respectively.[21] In October 1994, IFL sued Wee for the S$2.1 million that he owed them,[31] with the High Court ruling that his bungalow would be seized and auctioned off by IFL.[32]

The property was auctioned off for S$4.65 million in June 1995, but the sale was cancelled by Wee and his wife, Koh Goh Moy.[33] In August 1995, when the property was set to be re-auctioned,[33] Koh sued both Wee and IFL, alleging that Wee had made her the sole owner "in consideration of her love" and therefore IFL had no right to seize it.[34] The hearing began in August 1996, but Koh dropped the lawsuit after judge G. P. Selvam commented that it "had to fail", especially since the title deed had always been in Wee's name.[35]

Personal life[edit]

Wee was married to Koh Goh Moy, with whom he had two daughters, three sons, and five grandchildren.[8][21] In 1967, the couple purchased a two-storey, 7,855 square feet (729.8 m2) bungalow at 33 Greenmead Avenue (off Bukit Timah) for S$60,000.[35]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Article 29 of the Constitution of Singapore states that in order to be disqualified as a Member of Parliament, "a member who was convicted of an offence must be sentenced, in respect of a single offence, to a term of not less than 12 months' jail, or to a fine of not less than $2,000."[26] However, in the Attorney-General's view, this did not apply to Wee because he had been sentenced to six months in prison on each remaining charge on appeal.[26][27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Council clerk quits to fight poll". The Straits Times. 7 November 1957. p. 2.
  2. ^ "Move for shorter working week". The Straits Times. 9 September 1957. p. 7.
  3. ^ "City union secretary". The Straits Times. 21 November 1957. p. 5.
  4. ^ "Singapore City Council Election 1957: Kampong Kapor". 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Chong, Elena (20 April 1975). "Toon Boon charged with corruption". The Straits Times. p. 1.
  6. ^ "Centre for Moulmein". The Straits Times. 15 March 1967. p. 6.
  7. ^ "Flats balloting". The Straits Times. 24 March 1971. p. 7.
  8. ^ a b Hwang, T. F.; Davidson, Ben (11 July 1975). "Wee agreed to accept bungalow worth $532,000—Ong". The Straits Times. p. 8.
  9. ^ Chong, Terence (2018). The State And The Arts In Singapore: Policies And Institutions. World Scientific. p. xxiii. ISBN 9789813236905.
  10. ^ "List of MPs by Parliament". Parliament of Singapore. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  11. ^ Samsuri, Sufiyan (18 January 2024). "Iswaran charged: A look at some past corruption cases involving high-ranking government officials". CNA. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  12. ^ Hwang, T. F.; Davidson, Ben (5 August 1975). "Millionaire: I admit to consciously bribing Wee". The Straits Times. p. 6.
  13. ^ a b Hwang, T.F. (14 July 1976). "Toon Boon: 18 months' jail after appeal...". The Straits Times. p. 1.
  14. ^ Liew, Clement (2022). Scrupulous, Thorough, Fearless: The CPIB Story. World Scientific. p. 279. ISBN 9789811267253.
  15. ^ "Toon Boon appeal opens". The Straits Times. 13 April 1976. p. 1.
  16. ^ "Why I did not reject Lauw's offer of a bungalow: Wee". The Straits Times. 9 August 1975. p. 11.
  17. ^ a b Lim, Peter H. L. (2009). Chronicle of Singapore, 1959–2009: Fifty Years of Headline News. Editions Didier Millet. p. 137. ISBN 9789814217750.
  18. ^ "I had no idea bungalow was intended as a gift...". The Straits Times. 19 August 1975. p. 6.
  19. ^ Hwang, T. F.; Davidson, Ben (15 August 1975). "Wee: I like helping people". The Straits Times. p. 1.
  20. ^ Hwang, T. F.; Davidson, Ben (9 August 1975). "My family and I were threatened, Wee alleges". The Straits Times. p. 10.
  21. ^ a b c Ang, Michelle (31 August 1996). "'If only I had said yes'". The New Paper. p. 3.
  22. ^ a b c d e Hwang, T.F. (14 July 1976). "Charge four 'clearly wrong'—so 3-year jail sentence is out...". The Straits Times. p. 1.
  23. ^ Hwang, T.F.; Davidson, Ben (13 April 1976). "QC: No provision in graft law to charge minister". The Straits Times. p. 6.
  24. ^ Hwang, T.F.; Davidson, Ben (16 April 1976). "SG: Wee was properly tried and convicted". The Straits Times. p. 6.
  25. ^ "Toon Boon freed". The Straits Times. 12 July 1977. p. 1.
  26. ^ a b "Wee is still an MP, says Barker". The Straits Times. 5 September 1976. p. 7.
  27. ^ Chia, Poteik (16 September 1976). "Toon Boon gives up seat". The Straits Times. p. 1. The Attorney-General's interpretation of the constitution had left Wee's seat safe even though he is serving his sentence.
  28. ^ "House told: Toon Boon has quit". The Straits Times. 25 November 1976. p. 13.
  29. ^ "Wee: I have not yet decided my future". New Nation. 16 July 1977. p. 2.
  30. ^ Winters, Jeffrey A. (2011). Oligarchy. Cambridge University Press. p. 265. ISBN 9781139495646.
  31. ^ Chong, Elena (27 August 1994). "Ex-minister's wife seeks court order on her share in property". The Straits Times. p. 24.
  32. ^ Quak, Hiang Whai (9 June 1995). "Court to auction Wee Toon Boon's house". The Business Times. p. 2.
  33. ^ a b Williams, Ann (18 August 1995). "Wee Toon Boon's house one of two properties up for auction". The Straits Times. p. 46.
  34. ^ "House was mine from the start, says ex-minister's wife". The Straits Times. 28 August 1996. p. 20.
  35. ^ a b Lim, Li Hsien (29 August 1996). "Wife of ex-minister drops claim to house". p. 33.
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