They were apprehended in Johor Bahru, Johor, by officers from the MACC headquarters' investigation division, with assistance from MACC Johor.
Singapore's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) stated that Ng Teck Lee, 58, the key suspect in the Citiraya Industries Ltd (Citiraya) corruption case and his wife, Thor Chwee Hwa, 55, were handed over to its custody the same day and will be charged in court on Wednesday.
Ng, the chief executive officer of Citiraya at the time of the offence, will be charged under Section 408 of the Penal Code for allegedly committing criminal breach of trust by dishonestly misappropriating electronic scrap from various companies that had been entrusted to him for his own use.
"Ng instructed certain employees of Citiraya to not crush the electronic scraps, and to repackage, and export them," the CPIB said in a statement on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Thor will be charged under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act for allegedly making arrangements with Ng to open a Credit Suisse Hong Kong Branch account in her name, which was used to retain the benefits of Ng's criminal conduct.
The CPIB stated that the the couple had left Singapore in 2005 when the bureau first began investigating the case, and various efforts were made by the authorities to locate Ng in connection with the investigation.
"These included the issuance of an immigration stoplist, a Police Gazette, a Singapore warrant of arrest, and an international warrant of arrest through the Interpol," it said, adding that investigations are ongoing.
According to a CPIB affidavit filed on June 10, 2008, Ng was alleged to have misappropriated a portion of the electronic scrap sent to Citiraya for destruction by chip manufacturers in 2003 and 2004.
Instead of crushing all the electronic scrap in accordance with the terms of the agreements, a portion was removed from the premises of Citiraya, repacked, and subsequently sold to buyers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, CPIB director of Investigations, Vincent Lim, thanked the MACC for their assistance in the case, highlighting the close cooperation between the anti-corruption authorities of Singapore and Malaysia.
"The successful arrest of the two Singaporean fugitives involved in this corruption case after almost two decades attests to the longstanding ties and close cooperation between the CPIB and MACC.
"CPIB will spare no effort to track them down wherever they may hide and bring them to face justice in Singapore," he said.
-- BERNAMA
