Former Sembcorp Marine executives Wong Weng Sun and Lee Fook Kang were acquitted because Singapore’s prosecutors decided not to continue their cases. After reviewing the circumstances—including the dismissal of related proceedings against an alleged intermediary in Brazil—prosecutors issued both men stern warnings and applied for discharges amounting to acquittals. The State Courts granted those discharges on September 24, 2026. This was not a trial verdict establishing that the alleged payments never occurred.
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What charges did they face?
Wong, Sembcorp Marine’s former president and chief executive, and Lee, a former Jurong Shipyard senior general manager, each faced five charges of conspiring to give corrupt payments to Guilherme Esteves de Jesus for the benefit of people in Brazil. Prosecutors alleged the payments were intended to advance the business interests of Sembcorp Marine subsidiaries. The alleged payments totalled about US$44 million between 2009 and 2014.
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Wong alone faced a sixth charge of obstructing justice, linked to an allegation that he instructed employees to delete emails containing evidence of the payments. Lee did not face that charge.
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Why did de Jesus’s Brazilian case matter?
De Jesus, a former Brazil-based consultant, was the alleged intermediary through whom the payments were made. He was convicted in Brazil in 2020 of corruption, money laundering and involvement in a criminal organisation, but a Brazilian federal lower court subsequently acquitted him of all charges in 2023. Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers said its review took account of the dismissal of the related Brazilian proceedings; it did not say that this was the only reason for its decision.
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Did the acquittals end Seatrium’s corporate case?
No. Seatrium, formerly Sembcorp Marine, separately entered a Singapore deferred-prosecution agreement carrying a US$110 million financial penalty and reached settlement arrangements with Brazilian authorities. Those corporate arrangements are distinct from the stern warnings and acquittals of Wong and Lee.
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