Kobi Krishna Ayavoo, a retired senior chief warder of Indian descent in Singapore, has been handed a jail sentence exceeding three years for his involvement in soliciting bribes totaling SG$133,000 with the aim of facilitating the transfer of an inmate out of his designated jail cluster.
As detailed by The Straits Times, Kobi Krishna Ayavoo, aged 57, faced eight charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, alongside additional accusations of inciting his colleagues to access confidential prison system data pertaining to the inmate in question, resulting in his subsequent suspension.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang outlined the prosecution's case, asserting that Kobi had made repeated attempts to extract bribes from the inmate, Chong Keng Chye, over a span extending from September 2015 to March 2016. Chong, who had been serving a lengthy preventive detention term since 2005 for the mistreatment of his girlfriend’s seven-year-old son, expressed a desire to be relocated from the confines of a section referred to as Cluster A1 within Changi Prison.
The prosecution contended that the inmate's awareness of Kobi's financial difficulties and the provision of specific details such as mobile phone and bank account numbers by the accused strongly implied a solicitation for bribes.
Despite Kobi's endeavors to secure varying sums ranging from SG$3,000 to SG$42,000 from Chong, no monetary transactions took place between them.
During the proceedings, it was revealed that Chong recognized Kobi's inability to influence his transfer request and consequently refrained from complying with the demands for bribes, a fact acknowledged by the court.
Kobi refuted the allegations leveled against him, asserting that he had never made any monetary requests to Chong during their interactions, which he claimed occurred in the presence of other inmates during designated yard time.
