A MAN who gave kickbacks of about $100,000 to a former classmate, in return for his help to clinch contracts with a subsidiary of the National Library Board (NLB), was fined $80,000 yesterday.

Chia Chor Yam, 54, managing director of software development company Knowledge Internet Solutions (KIS), pleaded guilty to bribing Mr Lim Seng Ping, the then chief technical officer of eLpedia, an NLB subsidiary, between May and August in 2004.

Mr Lim, 54, who has since been dealt with, was in overall charge of eLpedia's information technology (IT) matters.

In late 2003, he had approached Chia to provide IT support and solutions to eLpedia.

Several months later, Mr Lim told Chia that eLpedia needed manpower in IT-related fields for its automated library management system.

He said he could help Chia get the contract in return for kickbacks of $8,000 a month. Chia agreed to the deal.

Further investigations showed that Mr Lim ensured that KIS was awarded contracts from eLpedia. To avoid suspicion that the payments to him were bribes, Mr Lim billed KIS for consultation services.

Between May and August in 2004, Chia made three payments of $6,300, $7,000 and $7,000 to Mr Lim as a reward for recommending that the manpower contract of eLpedia be awarded to KIS.

The other 11 remaining charges against Chia were considered during his sentencing. He could have been fined up to $100,000 and/or jailed for up to five years on each of the three charges.

ELENA CHONG

This article was first published in The Straits Times.