Ex-company director convicted of graft over DSO project

By the Editorial Team · Thursday, October 1, 2026

Former Wah Loon Engineering executive Jason Chua Aik Leng pleaded guilty to abetting corruption involving bribes paid to a DSO National Laboratories employee in connection with a S$46 million building project awarded in 2018. The case highlights the undermining of public trust in government contracts, with Chua facing potential jail time as sentencing is set for October 16.

A former senior executive director of an engineering firm has pleaded guilty to abetting corruption related to a building project for Singapore’s DSO National Laboratories, the country’s largest defence research and development organization. Jason Chua Aik Leng, 67, admitted on September 29 to one count of abetting the corrupt giving of gratification in connection with contracts awarded in 2018.

According to court documents, the scheme began around 2018 when Poh Beng San, then assistant manager of facilities management at DSO National Laboratories, allegedly solicited a “token of appreciation” from subcontractors vying for a renovation project at 20 Science Park Drive. Poh purportedly told a subcontractor, Alex Lee Yew Huat, that a bribe would be expected if his company secured the contract.

Lee, a supervisor at Fire-Mech—a company specializing in fire protection services—communicated the request to Chua, who managed tenders and bids for Wah Loon Engineering (WLE). Lee reportedly proposed that in return for inside help from Poh, WLE would need to subcontract the fire protection segment to Fire-Mech and allocate approximately 1% of the contract value as a bribe to DSO personnel.

Chua agreed to these terms. In January 2018, DSO awarded contracts worth more than S$46 million for addition and alteration works at the site, with WLE as a subcontractor for three of the contracts. The mechanical and electrical subcontract awarded to WLE was valued at about S$3.17 million. By April, Lee informed Chua that the bribe should amount to 1.2% of the contract price, resulting in about S$150,000 paid between October 2018 and February 2019 to Poh through intermediaries.

The arrangement involved Lau How Shing, director of Yuan Li Electrical Engineering (YLE), which received subcontracts for the fire protection work at an inflated price of S$2.88 million, including a S$480,000 markup. However, the actual fire protection work was carried out by Rico Engineering for S$2.4 million, with YLE subcontracting to Rico but performing no tangible work. Lau retained part of the illicit payments before passing most of the bribe money to Lee.

Investigations were triggered when the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) received information in February 2023 regarding Poh’s receipt of illegal payments. Chua was interviewed and confessed to participating in the corrupt scheme. Prosecutors argued that the involvement of a DSO employee and the large contract value undermined public confidence in public sector dealings, seeking a jail term of 13 to 15 months for Chua. They emphasized that the offence caused a greater public harm than typical private sector corruption.

Chua’s defense lawyers contended that he was not the initiator of the bribery, which Lee had proposed, and that Chua did not partake in the direct exchanges of illicit payments. They further argued there was no evidence of damage to DSO or substandard work by WLE due to the arrangement, seeking a sentence of five to six months or less.

Chua is scheduled to be sentenced on October 16. The legal proceedings against Poh Beng San and Alex Lee continue independently.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.