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SINGAPORE – All they had to go on was an allegation about corruption in the sneaker industry, sent by an anonymous whistle-blower from a burner e-mail account in 2020.Officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) had no way of contacting tWhen one clue is enough: How CPIB solves corruption cases with just a single lead
SINGAPORE – All they had to go on was an allegation about corruption in the sneaker industry, sent by an anonymous whistle-blower from a burner e-mail account in 2020.Officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) had no way of contacting the sender.And this was a niche industry CPIB officers knew little of.Yet, from the single bribery allegation against a shoe reseller, CPIB uncovered an elaborate web of corrupt transactions involving 10 people about when new pairs of limited edition shoes would be released for sale.Five givers and five receivers were involved, including a shoe reseller who somehow knew the release timings.Speaking to The Sunday Times on Aug 18, Mr Lam Seow Kin, assistant director of the financial investigation branch at CPIB, said these releases are known as shoe drops. Their timings are often kept secret to prevent scalpers from snapping up all the stock.Mr Lam said the e-mail claimed the shoe reseller knew the shoe drop timings. Read more