Indian origin deputy director pleads guilty of cheating Football Association of Singapore
Singapore, Jan 4: An Indian-origin former deputy director at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has pleaded guilty to 15 cheating charges involving supplies to the sporting body through a company he owned.
Another 30 similar charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing Rikram Jit Singh Randhir Singh, 43, who exploited his position to ensure that the sporting body's supply contracts were awarded to companies linked to him or his wife.
The Singaporean admitted on Wednesday to dishonestly inducing FAS to disburse SGD 609,380, from which he and his wife, Asya Kirin Kames, made a profit of SGD 127,896, according to a report by The Straits Times.
Their profits have been seized by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and will be returned to FAS, the court heard.
Rikram joined FAS in December 2010 as a marketing manager and rose through the ranks to become a deputy director in July 2017.
FAS is responsible for developing and advancing football in Singapore and is partially funded by Sport Singapore a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.
The accused met Asya, 37, while she was working in the communications department at FAS in 2013.
Leaving FAS in December that year, she set up a company, called All Resources Network (ARN), specialising in event management and the sale of sporting and recreational goods.
Rikram and Asya spoke frequently as ARN regularly organised or supported FAS events. They soon became romantically involved and were married in February 2018.
In February 2016, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the National Council of Problem Gambling (NCPG) agreed for FAS to produce and disseminate clappers, stress balls, scroll banners and football scarves.
Rikram convinced former colleague Pallaniappan Ravindran, 51, not to wind down an unprofitable company, Myriad Sports & Events, so he could use it as a front to quote for supply jobs that he would then pass to ARN.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said Ravindran agreed to the scheme because of his friendship with Rikram but did not know who the actual supplier would be.
In one instance, Ravindran submitted a quotation for 130,000 clappers valued at SGD 28,600.
FAS requires procurements valued between SGD3,000 and SGD50,000 to have at least three quotations. To fulfil the requirement, Rikram instructed his subordinate to find two other quotations, even though he had already decided to buy the items from Myriad.
DPP Thiagesh said, "(The subordinate) understood this to mean that she was to create fictitious quotations which were higher than Myriad's quotations to justify the approval of supply jobs to Myriad."
On Rikram's recommendation, the FAS management approved Myriad's quotations, disbursing SGD 116,335 to it for clappers, stress balls, scroll banners and football scarves between July 2016 and February 2017.
The funds were handed to the accused, and ARN supplied the items to FAS.
Based on the charges proceeded with, Rikram worked with Asya and Ravindran to dupe FAS into disbursing a further SGD 287,300 to Myriad between October 2017 and October 2018.
In June 2017, MSF once again engaged FAS to produce clappers, stress balls, banners and scarves with NCPG imagery to be distributed at S-League matches.
In October of that year, Asya transferred ownership of ARN to Rikram's friend, Shankar Suppiah, 47. She was planning to marry the accused and did not want FAS to find out about their conflict of interest.
Asya, however, still controlled ARN and would receive 60 per cent of the firm's profits.
Rikram instructed Shankar to submit a quotation, prepared by Asya, for the supply of stress balls worth SGD27,300.
Once again, he instructed his subordinate to find two other quotations. He then recommended ARNs to the FAS management, which approved it.
Rikram worked with Asya and Shankar to dupe FAS into disbursing a further SGD58,100 for the supply of clappers and banners, the court heard.
Their offences came to light when CPIB received information in January 2019 that Rikram had misappropriated money from FAS.
DPP Thiagesh said FAS' independent audit conducted afterwards found it had not paid more than the market rate for the items supplied by ARN.
"As such, FAS did not incur any material loss. All the jobs that Myriad and ARN quoted for were completed," the broadsheet quoted DPP as saying.
Seeking a jail term of 24 to 30 months for Rikram, the DPP said the accused's offences involved a misuse of public funds and were difficult to detect by virtue of his position as deputy director.
Defence lawyer Satwant Singh asked for a shorter jail term of nine to 12 months, saying that his client did not misuse the funds, which fulfilled a purpose.
Shankar was sentenced to four months in jail in November 2022 after pleading guilty to five counts of cheating.
Asya's and Ravindran's cases are pending, according to the Singapore Daily.
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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
