Former principal jailed four weeks for lying about affair
Koh Yong Chiah, former principal of River Valley High School, charged with one count of knowingly giving false info on 17 July 2014. Photo: Wee Teck Hian
SINGAPORE — The former River Valley High School principal who lied to a Ministry of Education (MOE) superior about his extramarital affair with the director of a school vendor was sentenced to four weeks’ jail today (Jan 21).
Koh Yong Chiah, 61, may not have shown any favour to his mistress, Madam Ivy Loke Wai Lin, but District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim pointed out that, in awarding school contracts to Madam Loke’s companies, there would still be public perception of bias because of the illicit relationship.
“Such an impression obviously brings into question the integrity of the procurement process,” she said.
“There is, therefore, a compelling public interest to protect the integrity of the procurement process to ensure that public confidence and more importantly, trust in the system, is maintained at all times.”
Koh and his lover met in 2000, when he was heading The Chinese High School, and Madam Loke was working at the then-Television Corporation of Singapore.
She had approached the school to take part in a community service project in China and their affair began in March 2001. He became the principal of Jurong Junior College between 2003 and 2009, before moving on to lead River Valley High until 2012.
An anonymous complaint of impropriety between Koh and Madam Loke reached the Education Ministry, and Koh was questioned by the ministry’s cluster superintendent Chia Ban Tin on Nov 24, 2005. Koh denied this.
After hearing his denial and before the case was closed, Ms Chia had advised Koh against any personal involvement with Madam Loke and reminded him about the importance of maintaining the integrity of the procurement process.
This note of caution from his superior should have guided Koh’s future conduct, but he chose to ignore it, District Judge Hamidah noted.
Between 2005 and 2012, Koh approved 87 contracts worth S$3.2 million to two companies — Education Architects 21 and Education Incorporation — where Madam Loke was a director and majority shareholder.
Agreeing with the prosecution that all public servants must be deterred from lying to cover their misdeeds, District Judge Hamidah said: “As a senior public servant, (Koh) owed a duty to discharge his duties in a fair and transparent manner, especially when awarding contracts to external parties.” Deception and dishonesty were “at the heart” of this offence of giving false information, she added.
Another charge of knowingly giving false information to the chief special investigator of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in December 2012 was also taken into consideration during the sentencing.
Koh intends to appeal his sentence, and has been granted bail of S$15,000.
