Star witness, Pang Chor Mui (or Angie), making her way out of subordinate courts after her first day of taking the stand as witness. (Yahoo! Photo)
Yes, we had oral sex but there was no business interests in our tryst – said the woman in the centre of ex-SCDF chief Peter Lim’s corruption trial. Mother-of-one Pang Chor Mui, a former general manager of Nimrod Engineering, appeared in court on Monday as the prosecution’s star witness for the first time since the sex-for-contracts trial started.
Pang described their first sexual encounter to the court, saying that it had taken place in her car after she picked up Lim, who had been drinking, from “somewhere near” the Fullerton area in Singapore’s Central Business District. According to Pang, also known as Angie, she had driven him back to his home in Tanjong Rhu, where Lim suggested that the two “have a chat” before saying goodbye. The alleged sex act then took place. Pang said that the two had first met in May 2010 in Norway while Pang was still employed by Cisco and Lim was a Major. They did not keep in contact again until she found out that Lim had been appointed SCDF chief. They then went for a “lavish lunch” together where they talked about their personal lives. After that, they communicated via “teasing” and intimate text messages.
Maintaining that she had not initiated any sexual contact with Lim and that he had been the one who had “unzipped his trousers”, Pang said that her employer, Nimrod Engineering, would have gone ahead with submitting their radiation portal tender to SCDF even if she had not received any inside information. She told the court that she had performed the sex act because she “liked him (Lim) a lot” and had not “stopped to analyse” the situation, and that their tryst had been a quick one, both stopping after it “dawned” on them that they were committing it in a public place. Pang said that the two did not meet up after that night but continued to maintain contact through flirtatious and “playful” text messages.
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Peter Lim trial: Woman tells court of first sexual encounter
Ms Pang Chor Mui, the woman at the centre of the sex-for-contracts corruption trial of former SCDF head Peter Lim Sin Pang, arriving at the courts on March 18, 2013. Photo: Ernest Chua
The woman at the centre of the sex-for-contracts case involving the former commissioner of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Peter Lim Sin Pang, said she couldn’t recall or “explain” why she had oral sex with Lim but said she “personally liked him a lot”.
Lim, 52, is accused of obtaining oral sex in 2010 from Ms Pang Chor Mui, then general manager of Nimrod Engineering, in exchange for favouring her security solutions firm’s bid for a tender to provide the SCDF with radiation detectors. The court also heard how Ms Pang had driven Lim home on May 2, 2010, after he texted her that he had been drinking earlier that evening. Upon reaching the entrance of his condominium in Tanjong Rhu, Lim asked if Ms Pang would like to “chit chat” before she left. Not wanting to block the entrance to the condominium, Ms drove out and parked on the side of the road.
They started talking and, shortly after, held hands. “I would say, one thing led to another. We started kissing and hugging and touching and finally I performed the sexual act on him,” Ms Pang said. The pair did not meet again after that but kept in contact through “playful” text messages. Lim, 52 is accused of tipping off Ms Pang in March 2011 for the SCDF’s need for radiation portal machines before it was made public through the Government Electronic Business (GeBIZ) website on April 6, 2011, in return for oral sex.
Witness’ relationship with ex-boss scrutinised
Ms Pang Chor Mui, former General Manager of Nimrod Engineering, arriving in court yesterday. Photo: Ernest Chua
She had been in an “intimate” and non-sexual relationship with her boss at Nimrod Engineering when she performed oral sex on ex-Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) chief Peter Lim. And such a relationship with her then-boss — Mr Tamil Selvan — put Ms Pang Chor Mui in a position to want to protect Nimrod’s business interests, the prosecution argued yesterday, as the sex-for-contracts trial continued.
Lim, 52, is alleged to have obtained oral sex from Ms Pang in 2010 in exchange for business favours and tipping her off about the SCDF’s need for radiation portal monitors before the information was made public through a tender on April 6, 2011. Taking the stand for the first time yesterday, Ms Pang, 49, a divorcee, said her relationship with Mr Selvan — whom she has known for 17 years — was of a non-sexual nature.
To this, Deputy Public Prosecutor Sherlyn Neo said that Ms Pang’s “special relationship” with Mr Selvan and the fact that she held a senior post — she was the former General Manager of Nimrod — put her in an “elevated position where she would definitely want to protect Nimrod’s business interests”. The prosecution will cross-examine Ms Pang — who was their key witness — today, after she gave several statements that were inconsistent with those given to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) early last year.
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Key witness in ex-SCDF chief Peter Lim's corruption trial takes the stand for third day
On her third day on the witness stand, Ms Pang Chor Mui, 49, was further cross-examined by defence lawyer Hamidul Haq. Mr Haq sought to show that the key witness' earlier statements to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) may not necessarily be right.
Ms Pang, the former general manager of Nimrod Engineering, is the prosecution's key witness in the sex-for-contracts corruption trial involving civil defence chief Peter Lim Sin Pang, 52. Mr Haq pointed out to Ms Pang that in her earlier statement to CPIB, she had suggested that Lim was at Raffles Hotel, instead of Fullerton Hotel, which she had acknowledged in court.
In another example on the inaccuracy of her statement to CPIB, Mr Haq asked Ms Pang to explain why she had said to CPIB that she was afraid to antagonise Lim, even though he did not ask her to perform oral sex on him. To this, Ms Pang replied: "Because when I used the word "antagonise", I don't really mean it. I guess at that time I wanted to get out of the place and I just gave an answer." Ms Pang will be questioned again by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ms Sherlyn Neo later on Wednesday.
Ex-SCDF chief sex-for-contracts case
On 4 January 2012, a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Chief was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and placed under investigation for corruption. The accused, Peter Lim Sin Pang was charged with 10 counts of corruption for allegedly obtaining sexual gratification from three women on separate occasions between May 2010 and November 2011 in return for business opportunities with the SCDF. This case was one of the three high-profile sex and corruption scandals that occurred in Singapore in 2012.
In June 2012, Peter Lim was charged with 10 counts of corruption for allegedly obtaining sexual gratification from three women between May 2010 and November 2011. In return, he showed favour to the companies where the women worked in terms of securing tenders with the SCDF.[3] Peter Lim was directly involved in approving contracts with external vendors. The three women involved in the case worked for the National Computer Systems (NCS), Singapore Radiation Centre (SRC) and Nimrod Engineering. Both NCS and Nimrod Engineering were existing vendors that provided products and services to the SCDF while the SRC was described as a potential vendor.
The prosecution proceeded on only one out of the 10 corruption charges tendered against Lim. The charge involved Peter Lim and Pang Chor Mui from Nimrod Engineering. The other nine charges were stood down. However, they were not withdrawn and could still be taken into consideration during the trial. The following court trials revolved around a open tender document that SCDF had put out on 6 April 2011 which called for bids to supply them with RPMs.[8] RPMs are walk-through devices that are used to detect radioactive sources and look similar to metal detectors.
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