Singapore court jails Indian-origin man for tampering with his bus speed limit

PTI

Singapore, March 25

An Indian-origin owner of a company that provides bus transportation services was sentenced to 13 weeks’ jail over his role in a ruse that allowed one of his vehicles to go over the prescribed speed limit, potentially affecting road safety.

Sundram Retnam, 51, who owns SV Bus Transportation Services and usually drove the affected bus at speeds of between 70 km per hour and 75 km per hour, was also fined SGD 500 after he failed to ensure its speed limiter was properly calibrated to prevent the vehicle from speeding.

On March 25, he pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating and also admitted to an offence under the Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Speed Limiters) Rules.

Sundram was the second person involved in the case to be dealt with in court.

Mechanic Tee Wei Chye, 45, who had activated the speed limiter on the bus before its inspections and disabled it after the tests were completed, was sentenced to 21 weeks in jail on March 22 after he pleaded guilty to three cheating charges.

The case involving a third man, Teoh Sio Meng, 51, who was the director and owner of T&L Transit, and a director at RS3 Transport at the time of the offences, is pending.

All three Singaporean men were charged in court in December 2022.

The prosecution said that speed limiters must be installed in vehicles such as Sundram’s bus to prevent them from going beyond the 60 km per hour limit.

Deputy public prosecutors Eric Hu and Darren Sim added: “The speed limiter regime aims to improve road safety and driving behaviour, and complements other measures intended to reduce fatalities and injuries among road users.”

The prosecution said the three men engaged in a conspiracy to dupe vehicle inspection company Vicom into believing that a working speed limiter was installed on the bus and would be left on the vehicle to comply with the law.

An unnamed whistleblower alerted the authorities and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau then looked into the matter.

On March 25, Sundram’s bail was set at SGD 5,000 and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on April 1 to begin serving his sentence.