Latest news with #Foo
New Paper
17 hours ago
- Business
- New Paper
High Court upholds acquittal of Chinese company accused of bribing ex-LTA deputy group director
The High Court has upheld the acquittal of a Chinese company that was charged with bribery after two of its employees gave loans totalling $220,000 to a Land Transport Authority (LTA) deputy group director. In a written judgment on May 29, the court said there was insufficient evidence to show that the company's top management was aware of or somehow complicit in the illegal acts. The Singapore branch of China Railway Tunnel Group was first acquitted of three corruption charges by a district judge in March 2024 on grounds that the two employees' acts could not be attributed to the company. Xi Zhengbing, who was the general manager and head representative of the branch, and Zhou Zhenghe, who was a deputy general manager, gave the loans to Henry Foo Yung Thye between January 2018 and August 2019. The district judge said Xi did not have a sufficiently high level in the chain of command. The Singapore branch is only one of the sub-departments within the company's overseas department, which is in turn only one department in the company's corporate structure. The prosecution appealed to the High Court against the acquittal. On May 29, the appeal was dismissed by a panel comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Tay Yong Kwang and Justice Andrew Phang. The court also noted that Xi and Zhou had resorted to defrauding the company with false invoices to obtain the $200,000 that was given to Foo as loans in 2018. Zhou then had to borrow $20,000 to provide the subsequent loan. "All these showed clearly that the respondent was never involved in its employees' illegal activities and neither did it give its tacit approval (nor) pretend to be ignorant of what the Singapore branch's employees were doing," said the court. In September 2021, Foo, then 47, was sentenced to 5½ years' jail for taking about $1.24 million in bribes in the form of loans from contractors and sub-contractors. Foo, who resigned from LTA in September 2019, was also ordered to pay a penalty of about $1.16 million, equivalent to the amount he had not returned. Xi and Zhou were arrested in September 2019 by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau. After being released on bail, they absconded to China, where they were arrested and subsequently convicted by a Guangzhou court. Xi was sentenced to a five-year jail term and a fine of 300,000 yuan (S$57,400). Zhou was sentenced to two years' jail and a fine of 100,000 yuan. China Railway Tunnel Group has 24 branches, eight of which are overseas. The Singapore branch was a sub-contractor for two different projects on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), and was awarded the main contract for a project on the Circle Line. At the time of the offences, Foo was involved in the project management of the main contractors in respect of TEL projects. Between 2016 and 2019, he reached out to the company's employees, including Xi, to ask for loans. No loan was given as a result of Foo's first request. Subsequently, Xi agreed to give him a loan upon his second request in the hope that Foo would refer more job opportunities to the company. Zhou then arranged for false invoices to be issued to the company and prepared supporting documents with forged signatures. These documents were presented to the company's finance department, which disbursed the payment. After receiving the money, Xi and Zhou passed $200,000 to Foo. In 2019, Foo made a third request. Xi agreed to give him another loan, in the hope that Foo would expedite the company's payment claims and help the company to win the tender for another project. On Xi's instructions, Zhou borrowed $20,000 from a friend and passed the money to Foo. The prosecution alleged that in 2016, Mr Liu Chenyu, who was based in China, was told of the discussions to pay Foo a bribe and approved his request for a loan. Mr Liu was then the deputy general manager of the company's overseas department, which was in charge of all the overseas branches. The prosecution presented text messages, including one from another employee of the Singapore branch telling Foo that Mr Liu was grateful for his support. But the High Court panel said the prosecution had not presented the necessary evidence to prove that Mr Liu was involved. The messages did not prove that Foo's request for a loan was actually conveyed to Mr Liu, said the judges. Lawyer Paul Loy of WongPartnership, who acts for the company, said his client will continue to respect the laws of countries in which it operates.
New Paper
a day ago
- General
- New Paper
Tiong Bahru blocks to be painted brown after criticisms over purple makeover
The 14 Tiong Bahru Housing Board blocks, that had ignited much debate and discussion after residents found out the buildings were going to be painted in purple, are now going to be painted a new colour - brown. The decision on the new colour scheme comes after the views of residents were sought through a poll held from May 26 to 28. A notice by the Tanjong Pagar Town Council on May 30 showed that 40 per cent of the Boon Tiong Road residents who voted selected the "taupe" colour scheme from four different options. The initial purple paintjob had come under the spotlight earlier in May, after parts of the exterior of Block 9A Boon Tiong Road was painted several shades of purple, including a dark plum which some residents said looked gaudy. Residents were upset as they said their views were not sought. Following the uproar, Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Foo Cexiang had decided to do a poll after residents told him they wanted a choice over the colour scheme. Two of the options were variations of purple. The "classic purple" option, which had more white portions and shades of light purple, garnered 17 per cent of votes. Another option, called "lightened purple gradient", had more purple sections. It received 13 per cent of votes. The other option, a yellow colour scheme, got 30 per cent of the vote. A resident, Ms Nicole Lau, felt the winning taupe colour scheme was acceptable, she hoped that the classic purple option would be chosen as she liked the finished paint job at Block 2A Boon Tiong Road, which sported shades of lilac. "The lilac colour looks quite soothing. What I didn't like was the dark purple shade," said the teacher who is in her 40s. "Are we going to be called the Milo blocks now?" she added, referring to the chocolate malt beverage. A resident at Block 2A, who wanted to be known only as Mr Chen, said he was disappointed with the results as his block would have to undergo another round of painting. "The purple colour is nice, I don't understand why there was a huge fuss over it. Now, residents at Block 2A will have to be inconvenienced again," said the 60-year-old IT consultant. He said the block's purple makeover took about a month and was completed in early May. It was previously off-white with shades of light orange. Mr Foo told reporters on May 17 that the purple colour scheme was selected to reflect the purple-blossomed bougainvillea planted along Boon Tiong Road as part of a community event in 2015. The idea came from a discussion between Ms Indranee Rajah - who was previously adviser to Tanjong Pagar GRC Grassroots Organisations - as well as residents and architects, he said. Ms Indranee was MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC from 2001 to 2025 before moving to head the PAP's team in Pasir Ris-Changi GRC for the 2025 General Election. As to why voting was not done earlier, Mr Foo said there is no protocol on how advisers should conduct the repainting process. He said painting will start about three to four weeks after the colour scheme is chosen.
Finextra
23-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
areeba and Foo forge strategic partnership to drive digital payments services in the Middle East
areeba, a global leader in payment infrastructure, has partnered with Foo, a pioneering provider of digital banking and fintech solutions, to introduce a fully integrated - program for digital services. 0 This bundled offering enables banks and fintechs to build their own secure and scalable card programs and wallets without the need for complex infrastructure. This partnership brings together areeba's modern card issuance platform and Foo's digital capabilities into a seamless solution, combining secure digital onboarding, e-KYC, and tokenization for Apple Pay and Google Pay. By unifying physical and digital issuance tools, the partnership removes traditional barriers and accelerates go-to-market timelines. The program is designed for financial institutions looking to launch modern, compliant, and top-of-wallet card products with speed and flexibility. Maher Mikati, CEO of areeba, commented: 'By integrating our card issuance infrastructure with Foo's onboarding and tokenisation services, we're giving institutions the tools to launch innovative card programs quickly and securely. This partnership reflects our commitment to simplifying how institutions enter and grow within the digital payments space.' 'As demand grows for digital first issuance, our collaboration with areeba delivers a complete CaaS solution that streamlines complexity and enables institutions to scale efficiently,' said Ghady Rayess, CEO of Foo. 'This partnership reflects our shared vision of simplifying how digital financial products are built and delivered without compromising on performance, compliance, or customer experience.' The partnership reflects areeba and Foo's shared commitment to building adaptable, secure, and future ready infrastructure that supports the evolving needs of financial institutions in the Middle East & Arab Region.
Trade Arabia
22-05-2025
- Business
- Trade Arabia
areeba, Foo to deliver digital payment services in Middle East
areeba, a global leader in payment infrastructure, has partnered with Foo, a pioneering provider of digital banking and fintech solutions, to introduce a fully integrated - programme for digital services. This bundled offering enables banks and fintechs to build their own secure and scalable card programs and wallets without the need for complex infrastructure. This partnership brings together areeba's modern card issuance platform and Foo's digital capabilities into a seamless solution, combining secure digital onboarding, e-KYC, and tokenization for Apple Pay and Google Pay. By unifying physical and digital issuance tools, the partnership removes traditional barriers and accelerates go-to-market timelines. The program is designed for financial institutions looking to launch modern, compliant, and top-of-wallet card products with speed and flexibility. On the deal, CEO Maher Mikati said: "By integrating our card issuance infrastructure with Foo's onboarding and tokenization services, we're giving institutions the tools to launch innovative card programs quickly and securely." "This partnership reflects our commitment to simplifying how institutions enter and grow within the digital payments space," he stated. Ghady Rayess, CEO of Foo, said: "As demand grows for digital first issuance, our collaboration with areeba delivers a complete CaaS solution that streamlines complexity and enables institutions to scale efficiently." "This partnership reflects our shared vision of simplifying how digital financial products are built and delivered without compromising on performance, compliance, or customer experience," noted Rayess.
Zawya
22-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
areeba, Foo to deliver digital payment services in Middle East
areeba, a global leader in payment infrastructure, has partnered with Foo, a pioneering provider of digital banking and fintech solutions, to introduce a fully integrated - programme for digital services. This bundled offering enables banks and fintechs to build their own secure and scalable card programs and wallets without the need for complex infrastructure. This partnership brings together areeba's modern card issuance platform and Foo's digital capabilities into a seamless solution, combining secure digital onboarding, e-KYC, and tokenization for Apple Pay and Google Pay. By unifying physical and digital issuance tools, the partnership removes traditional barriers and accelerates go-to-market timelines. The program is designed for financial institutions looking to launch modern, compliant, and top-of-wallet card products with speed and flexibility. On the deal, CEO Maher Mikati said: "By integrating our card issuance infrastructure with Foo's onboarding and tokenization services, we're giving institutions the tools to launch innovative card programs quickly and securely." "This partnership reflects our commitment to simplifying how institutions enter and grow within the digital payments space," he stated. Ghady Rayess, CEO of Foo, said: "As demand grows for digital first issuance, our collaboration with areeba delivers a complete CaaS solution that streamlines complexity and enables institutions to scale efficiently." "This partnership reflects our shared vision of simplifying how digital financial products are built and delivered without compromising on performance, compliance, or customer experience," noted Rayess. The partnership reflects areeba and Foo's shared commitment to building adaptable, secure, and future ready infrastructure that supports the evolving needs of financial institutions in the Middle East & Arab Region, he added. Copyright 2024 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
