Former Sembcorp Marine president and chief executive Wong Weng Sun and former Jurong Shipyard senior general manager Lee Fook Kang have been acquitted of all charges linked to alleged bribery in the company’s Brazil business, after Singapore’s State Courts granted them discharges amounting to acquittals on Thursday, 24 September 2026. The move followed a decision by prosecutors to issue both men stern warnings instead of pursuing the case, CNA reported, citing the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
The case was one of Singapore’s highest-profile corporate corruption prosecutions, tied to Brazil’s sprawling Operation Car Wash investigation into state oil company Petrobras. For more, see our business hub and Singapore hub.
Key takeaways
- Wong and Lee were acquitted on 24 September after the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) gave them stern warnings on 21 September.
- The AGC cited the dismissal of related proceedings in Brazil against agent Guilherme Esteves de Jesus.
- Seatrium, the company formed from Sembcorp Marine, separately settled with prosecutors in 2025 under a deferred prosecution agreement.
Why prosecutors dropped the case
The AGC said prosecutors directed that stern warnings be administered in lieu of prosecution after weighing the facts and circumstances of the matter, including the dismissal of criminal proceedings in Brazil against Guilherme Esteves de Jesus, the Brazilian agent at the centre of the alleged payments, according to The Straits Times.
CNA reported that de Jesus had been convicted in Brazil in 2020 of corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation, but was acquitted of all charges by a Brazilian federal court in 2023. The CPIB administered the warnings on Monday, 21 September, and prosecutors then applied for the discharges, which the court granted three days later.
What the charges alleged
Wong and Lee were charged in March 2024. Each faced five counts of conspiring to corruptly give gratification to de Jesus, for the benefit of other people in Brazil, to advance the business interests of Sembcorp Marine’s subsidiaries there. The alleged payments were made or agreed between 2009 and 2014 and included money intended for Brazilian officials, politicians and Petrobras officers, The Straits Times said. CNA reported that a total of around US$44 million was allegedly paid through de Jesus as a middleman.
Wong also faced a charge of obstructing the course of justice for allegedly instructing two employees in 2014 to delete an email from de Jesus that contained evidence of bribes. When the men were charged, the AGC had said there was sufficient evidence to prosecute.
Wong’s response
“To the best of his knowledge, there are no further court proceedings pending against Mr Wong,” his lawyers at WongPartnership said. The firm said Wong, who spent more than 30 years at Sembcorp Marine and rose from project engineer to chief executive, had consistently denied any criminal wrongdoing. He thanked his family, friends and legal team for their support during what the lawyers called an “incredibly stressful period,” and “looks forward to moving on,” The Straits Times reported.
What it means for Seatrium
The action against the two executives was separate from the case against the company itself. Sembcorp Marine merged with Keppel Offshore & Marine in 2023 and the combined group was renamed Seatrium. In July 2025, Seatrium entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with Singapore prosecutors over the Brazil offences, agreeing to a US$110 million financial penalty and further improvements to its ethics and compliance programme, according to both outlets.
The CPIB began investigating Sembcorp Marine and individuals from the company in May 2023, The Straits Times said. The acquittals close the Singapore criminal proceedings against the two former executives, while the company’s own settlement stands as a separate matter.
