Daily Briefing: Shopee to enter Mexico online market via app launch; 7 workplace fatalities this month ‘extremely alarming': Zaqy Mohamad

And three former Shell employees charged with bribing vessel inspectors.

From DealStreetAsia:

Shopee, the e-commerce arm of Southeast Asia’s Sea Ltd, has launched an app for Mexico, where it plans to offer online sales in what would be its second market in the Americas.

Shopee, the largest e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, according to market researchers, launched a small presence in Brazil in 2019 as a pilot initiative of its cross-border team, and has since been scaling up operations.

Although sources in January said the e-commerce arm was evaluating the potential of other Latin American markets, the company had not yet announced plans for other countries.

The expansion to Mexico, Latin America’s second-largest economy, could mark a major new growth opportunity in cross-border sales, a market already explored by shopping app Wish.

According to a preview of the app on the Apple website in Mexico, Shopee will offer free shipping throughout Mexico, offering items including electronics, clothes, toys, and home goods.

Read more here. 

From ChannelNewsAsia:

There have been seven fatal workplace accidents so far in February, an “extremely alarming” figure compared to 30 deaths for the whole of last year, said Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad on 22 February.

It sets a “worrying trend” for the year ahead, said Mohamad, adding that the accidents occurred across various industries including construction, transportation and storage and marine.

The spate of accidents prompted the Workplace Safety and Health Council and the Singapore Contractors Association Ltd to call for a safety time-out on the use of machinery.

A safety time-out involves reviewing activities and protocols.

In a Facebook post, Mohamad urged employers and workers to take a step back to reassess their workplaces and safety procedures.

Read more here.

From ChannelNewsAsia:

Three former Shell Eastern Petroleum employees who are accused of being involved in a scheme to steal fuel from the petroleum giant’s Pulau Bukom refinery were charged in court on 23 February with corruption offences.

The men are accused of bribing employees of various surveying companies engaged by Shell to inspect vessels which Shell supplied fuel to, said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). They were previously also charged over their alleged involvement in misappropriating fuel from Shell Bukom.

Former Shell staff members Juandi Pungot, 44 and Muzaffar Ali Khan Muhamad Akram, 40, allegedly conspired to give bribes totalling about $121,600 (US$91,900) to 10 employees of various surveying companies between 2014 and 2017. These were given as "rewards for refraining from accurately reporting the amount of gasoil loaded onto vessels which they were engaged to inspect”, said CPIB in a press release.

Read more here.