Senior SPH exec sacked Click on thumbnails to view photos. (Photos: TNP, ST)

FORMER Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) senior vice president of the English and Malay News Division Peter Khoo Chong Meng, 47, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of criminal breach of trust (CBT).

The Straits Times reported that he was hauled in for police questioning on Friday and was grilled at Tanglin Police Division Headquarters for about seven hours.

This was from about noon following his admission to taking illegal payments and shopping vouchers.

He is now out on police bail pending police investigations. He was allowed to leave at about seven PM and was driven off in a black Toyota Camry.

CBT carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail and a fine.

Mr Khoo has so far declined to speak with reporters who have been waiting outside his home and outside the police station.

SPH yesterday announced that it dismissed Mr Khoo after he voluntarily admitted earlier this week to receiving illegal payments and misappropriating shopping vouchers handled by the Editorial Projects Unit (EPU) which he oversaw.

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The shopping vouchers were meant to be given away to readers of The Straits Times as a reward for news tip-offs and to the newspaper's contest winners.

It is unclear what he did in exchange for the payments and shopping vouchers, although he is said to have been receiving them for the past few years.

Mr Khoo has made a restitution of $196,500 for the payments he admitted to receiving illegally and for the vouchers he misappropriated, said SPH in a statement.

He had worked at the company for the past 22 years.

Police confirmed to my paper that a report was made on Tuesday evening and that investigations are ongoing.

If charged and convicted of criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years' jail and a fine.