SINGAPORE, June 5 — A 40-year-old man who falsified information in a bid to cover Singapore-flagged vessel MT Sea Tanker II’s involvement in transferring marine gasoil to a North Korean vessel was sentenced to six months’ jail today by a District Court.

Jeremy Koh Renfeng, who was a former cargo officer of the vessel, pleaded guilty to two charges of intentionally obstructing the course of justice by providing false information in the official logbook of MT Sea Tanker II, and dismantling and disposing a computer processing unit (CPU) into the sea.

An additional similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.

His co-conspirators Benny Tan Chun Kiat and Ong Chou Hong were sentenced previously to six and nine months’ jail respectively.

False logbook records

The court heard that Koh was on board MT Sea Tanker II, during the time of his offences, as a cargo officer whose duty was to track and record the quantity of marine gasoil on the vessel and supervise the transfer of the gasoil from MT Sea Tanker II to other vessels.

Between October 26 and December 8, 2018, the Singapore authorities received information that MT Sea Tanker II had allegedly engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer of gasoil with North Korean-flagged vessels.

On November 5, the Maritime Port Authority (MPA) requested documents from MT Sea Tanker II’s owners Sea Hub Tankers which included the vessel’s official log book, oil record book part II, charter party agreements and bill of lading.

Sometime between November 5 and December 6, Ong and Tan told Koh that records in MT Sea Tanker II’s official logbook needed to be amended.

Koh was aware that the official logbook would be provided to MPA for the purposes of their investigation.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) David Koh said that the purpose of re-writing the records in the logbook was to falsify the records and create a false narrative about the movement and cargo activity of the vessel.

The trio communicated via WhatsApp regarding the amendment of the books as they were concerned about creating a plausible narrative as to where the tanker was at during relevant points in time.

Throughout their communication, Ong and Tan agreed on creating a purported timeline for the movement of the vessel.

They then instructed Koh to direct the crew of the tanker to write these falsified records into the official logbook.

Specific instructions were given, for instance, to state that the generator on board the vessel was spoilt on certain dates.

Under the instructions of his co-conspirators, Koh would check the records and send images of them to the pair through WhatsApp and would receive further instructions on how they were to be corrected.

Koh would also occasionally suggest to Ong and Tan the manner in which the false records were to be entered.

The captain of MT Sea Tanker II would then be instructed to sign off against the logbook.

In addition to the logbook, Koh had also made amendments to the ship’s oil record book part II which recorded the vessel’s cargo and ballast operations.

Before it was signed off by the master and chief officer of the ship, the trio checked whether the oil record book part II matched with the false narrative in the amended logbook in terms of dates and purported locations, stated DPP Koh.

Investigations into Koh’s mobile phone retrieved deleted images of a sounding report and a barge transfer advice, which recorded MT Sea Tanker II having transferred around 2600 KL of oil to a vessel named “MT An San I” between October 30 and 31.

MT An San I is believed to be a North Korean-flagged vessel.

The sounding report, which was used to measure existing cargo levels in the tanks on board vessels, was also signed off by a chief officer from a North Korean shipping company called Ansan Shipping Company.

This transfer to MT An San I was not recorded in the official logbook or in the oil record book part II.

In order to ensure their offences couldn’t be traced, Koh was also instructed by Ong and Tan to destroy any documents containing Korean words and discard the bunker transfer receipts on the ship as the amounts would not match the falsified records in the oil record book part II.

When MT Sea Tanker II returned to Singapore on December 6, the falsified logbook and oil record book part II were provided, together with other ship documentation, to MPA.

Discarding CPU into the sea

On November 16, Koh received instructions from Ong through WhatsApp to check and throw away certain emails and other related documents that have been printed out and filed.

Koh responded with: “The harddisk better throw (sic).”

Ong then instructed Koh to destroy the CPU on board MT Sea Tanker II and “throw into sea” as Tan would be bringing a new CPU to the ship.

Koh acknowledged Ong’s instructions and replied: “Yup, the CPU lot of s**t.”

Ong subsequently instructed Koh to ask the crew to back up only certain files and told Koh to dispose the CPU.

Later that day, after informing Ong that the files had been backed up by the crew, Koh told him that he would be throwing the CPU into the sea.

Heeding Ong’s warning to “not let others see him”, Koh brought the CPU up to the deck in a box where he dismantled it and sent Ong a photo to show what was done.

Koh then threw the parts of the dismantled CPU into the sea and informed Ong.

What the defence and prosecution said

In seeking a sentence of six months’ jail, DPP Koh told the court that Koh’s offences were “invariably serious” and he had been the “hands and feet” of the conspiracy who was on board the ship.

He stated that Koh’s role was significant as he had conspired with the other two to “frustrate investigations” and even took initiative to suggest how the CPU should be destroyed.

Responding in defence of Koh, lawyer Tang Chong Jun from Helmsman LLC argued that his client had possessed knowledge which were different from his co-conspirators, and that he was merely carrying out “his superior’s instructions”.

Tang urged Senior District Judge Bala Reddy to impose a lighter sentence of no more than four months’ jail as Koh was “just an intermediary” in this conspiracy who had no motivation to commit the offences except to “do his job”.

For intentionally obstructing the course of justice, Koh could have been jailed up to seven years or fined, or both. — TODAY