OKP, as a repeat offender, could be fined up to $1 million.įor recklessly endangering the workers, Yee and Wong each face a jail sentence of up to two years, a fine of up to $200,000 or both. The cases against OKP, Yee and Wong have been adjourned for sentencing on April 8 and 9.
He was jailed for six months and his appeal against the sentence was dismissed by the High Court in October last year. One count of falsely certifying that he had carried out the required checks was considered during sentencing. Leong pleaded guilty in June 2019 to failing to check the detailed structural plans and design calculations in accordance with regulations under the Building Control Act. He was jailed for 86 weeks, or slightly more than a year and nine months, and fined $10,000. Two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing. Tjandra pleaded guilty in November 2019 to three of five charges under the Building Control Act and the WSHA. "Wong's and Yee's lies corroborated their guilt," he said.
He added that Wong and Yee formulated a plan to lie to the authorities shortly after the collapse, and their deletion of messages obstructed the course of justice and hindered the trial. Related Story Engineer's deceit in PIE viaduct collapse case could have caused unimaginable number of casualties "Instead of stopping works immediately, (Wong and Yee) waited for further instruction and put the safety and lives of the workers on the deck slab at risk." "OKP failed to call for a stoppage of works despite having ample time to do so," he said. In his verdict on Friday, Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun said the cracks were an obvious sign of danger to the safety of the workers. Similarly, Wong deleted his messages and the photographs he took of the cracks from his phone, and also lied that he had ordered work to stop.
Investigations revealed that a 40m section of the Upper Changi PIE viaduct, between piers 40 and 41, had given way on July 14, 2017. "There was ample time, about 40 minutes, for OKP, Yee and Wong to react and stop work upon their discovery of the cracks, but they did not do so."Īfter the collapse, Yee deleted his messages with Wong and lied to the authorities that he gave the order for work to stop but there was no time to do so before the collapse. "The obvious and necessary decision to take to ensure the workers' safety would have been to evacuate the workers and stop work pending investigations," it said in its submissions. The prosecution said OKP, Yee and Wong failed to safeguard the workers through their acts and omissions. But by the time he agreed to issue the order, it was too late. LTA representatives on-site, who saw the cracks at around 3.15am, felt shocked and worried. But neither made the decision to stop work at the site. On the day of incident, 40 minutes before the collapse, Wong discovered much more serious cracks and called Yee.
OKP failed to inform the Land Transport Authority (LTA), which was the developer, and did not conduct a proper risk assessment review. On June 30, 2017, two weeks before the collapse, cracks appeared but were not properly dealt with. These included multiple, repeated instances of cracks appearing on the corbels, which OKP, Yee and Wong ignored. The prosecution said there were warning signs in the lead-up to the collapse, as well as on the night before.
Pie message news trial#
OKP, however, claimed trial for the charge under the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA). Tjandra and Leong were dealt with in 2019, while OKP was previously fined $10,000 for carrying out unauthorised strengthening works on the permanent corbels of the viaduct. The four were Yee and Wong Indonesian Robert Arianto Tjandra, 47, the engineer who prepared building work plans for the viaduct and Leong Sow Hon, 62, the accredited checker for its construction. Four individuals and main contractor OKP were charged in 2018 in relation to the incident.
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