SINGAPORE – All they had to go on was an allegation about corruption in the sneaker industry, sent by an anonymous whistle-blower from a burner e-mail account in 2020. Officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) had no way of contacting the sender. And this was a niche industry CPIB officers knew little of.
SINGAPORE – All they had to go on was an allegation about corruption in the sneaker industry, sent by an anonymous whistle-blower from a burner e-mail account in 2020.And this was a niche industry CPIB officers knew little of.
Speaking to The Sunday Times on Aug 18, Mr Lam Seow Kin, assistant director of the financial investigation branch at CPIB, said these releases are known as shoe drops. Their timings are often kept secret to prevent scalpers from snapping up all the stock.Mr Lam, who joined CPIB in 2012, said: “The e-mail was just a general allegation that this one guy must be doing something, and was thus able to time all the shoe drops and buy all of them for himself.
They found out this employee would give information to the reseller, who bought at least 57 pairs of shoes, either on the first day they were available for sale or a day later. Not much could be made out from the faded note except for an allegation of a bribery scheme in the petrochemical industry.But this name was a common one, said Mr Lam.
He recommended the vendor he received bribes from, and after the contract was awarded, the vendor continued to pay the man every month.Said Mr Lam: “As we investigated the case, we didn’t expect the scale of it to be so large and to span over such a long period of time.” Hiding it in his back pocket as he came out, the suspect tried to stab a CPIB officer, who quickly subdued him.In 2024, CPIB secured a conviction rate of 97 per cent.
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