Category: Singapuraku

AGO Finds Governance Lapses In WP-Run AHPETC

The financial affairs of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) will be in the spotlight in Parliament on Thursday (Feb 12), after the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) issued a report finding lapses in governance and compliance by the town council.

These lapses, detailed in the report issued today (Feb 9), include failing to transfer monies into sinking fund bank accounts as required by the Town Councils Financial Rules, and inadequately managing conflicts of interest when it came to procuring services for the Workers’ Party-run town council.

The Auditor-General also found that there was no proper system for monitoring service and conservancy charges arrears, and internal controls were poor, which could lead to wrong payments for goods and services. The town council also does not have a proper system for record management and accounting, which led to it being unable to provide relevant documents for audits. As such, its financial statements did not accurately reflect its state of affairs and transactions, the Auditor-General found.

“Unless the weaknesses are addressed, there can be no assurance that AHPETC’s financial statements are accurate and reliable and that public funds are properly spent, accounted for and managed,” the report stated.

The Auditor-General was last year directed to conduct an audit of the AHPETC’s accounts for FY2012-13, after independent auditors said they were unable to express an opinion on the town council’s financial statements for the second consecutive year. The auditors, Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton, said they could not determine if items worth more than S$22 million were valid or accurate.

A copy of the Auditor-General’s report was submited to Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan last Friday (Feb 6). A copy was also given to AHPETC the next day.

In a joint statement, the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Finance said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan will move a motion on the AGO report when Parliament sits on Thursday.

For the full report, click here.

Below are some examples of the lapses.

Lapses in management of sinking funds

– Under Town Councils Financial Rules, town councils must make the necessary transfers to sinking fund bank accounts within a month of the end of each financial year (FY) quarter. These funds are separately maintained for improvement and long-term maintenance of properties.

– For FY2012/13, AHPETC only transferred S$1.5 million to the sinking fund in Feb 2013. It transferred another S$2.74 million in Jan 2014, but this was still less that what was required under the rules. Following the AGO’s query, AHPETC transferred another S$1.2 million in June 2014.

Lapses in governance of related party transactions

– AHPETC’s key officers had ownership interests in two companies engaged by the town council for estate services — FM Solutions & Integrated Services (FMSI) and FM Solutions & Services (FMSS)

– FMSI’s sole proprietor is AHPETC’s secretary Danny Loh Chong Meng. He is also one of FMSS’ directors and shareholders, together with his wife AHPETC general manager How Weng Fan and deputy general managers Yeo Soon Fei and Johnson Lieow Chong Sern

– On two occasions for contracts worth S$5.2 million and S$20.7 million, no evidence was found to show that there were proper disclosures of the interests of the related parties, the conflicts of interest, and an assessment of safeguards, before AHPETC entered into agreements with FMSS.

Lapses in management of conservancy and service charge arrears

– AHPETC’s conservancy and service charges arrears report submitted to Ministry of National Development for March 2013 showed 4,379 units with arrears of three months or more. But its report submitted to its Finance and Investment Committee showed 17,502 units in arrears for three months or more as of March 31 2013.

Lapses in internal controls and procurement

– On one occasion, AHPETC awarded a contract amounting to S$88,346 without calling a tender. The cost later increased to S$101,641 due to changes in scope of work and this was only approved by the AHPETC chairman, although it should have been approved by the town council under the Town Councils Financial Rules

– Waivers of quotation for purchases were approved by AHPETC deputy general manager, but no documentation was provided to show that he was delegated the authority to do so

Inadequacies in record management and accounting system

– AHPETC could not find the accounting documents for April to July 2011, resulting in its auditor being unable to issue an audit opinion for the town council’s FY2011/12 financial statements

– AHPETC did not record lift upgrading programme expenses in the financial statements for the years in which the expenses were incurred. As a result, there were understatements of about S$240,000 and S$8.14 million in FY2010/11 and FY2011/12 respectively. There was also overstatement of S$8.38 million in FY2012/13.

Source: www.todayonline.com

February 10, 2015
In Solidarity With Singaporean Indians – Make Thaipusam A Public Holiday!

There has been a lot of talk recently about making Thaipusam – an annual Hindu festival event celebrated by the Tamil community here – a public holiday.

We have four races here and though Deepavali is celebrated as a public holiday, Thaipusam which is an important Hindu day in the Tamil community calender is not officially gazetted as a public holiday yet.

In Singapore, every major race is given two days of religious or cultural holiday. The Chinese have Chinese New Year (CNY), which lasts for two days. Malays, who are predominantly Muslim, are given holidays for Hari Raya Haji and Hari Raya Puasa. Indians are given Deepavali and Vesak Day. Hence, Thaipusam could not be made a holiday for Indian Hindu.

Vesak Day which is a Buddhist religion is strangely been gazetted as a Indian holiday though very few Indians celebrate.

17,000 signatures were collected to date to petition online for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday here:-

https://www.change.org/p/mdm-halimah-yacob-make-thaipusam-a-religious-holiday-in-singapore

There is also this recent controversy whereby three Indians were arrested for disorderly behaviour during the recent Thaipusam when the police was called upon to enforce a ancient 1973 law which disallows the use of musical instruments for kavadi carriers.

In response to the arrest, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K Shanmugam made an effort to explain why musical instruments were disallowed during the Thaipusam’s foot procession, citing the 1964 riots as the main reason for imposing such an ancient law.

We hope that with the recent arrest, the government will look closely into allowing musical instruments to be played during Thaipusam foot procession under limited conditions.

This event hopes to unite all Singaporeans to support our smallest minority race to petition for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday – as only 9% of the population is make up of Indians.

We agree with the online petition statement that –

Thaipusam should be made a holiday in Singapore from 2016 in the interest of fairness to all races in Singapore.

Let us come together and speak with one voice – though we have 4 races but we are first Singaporeans!

Singaporeans supporting Singaporeans.

Gilbert Goh
Event Organiser

Editor’s note: We will co-operate with NParks and the police to ensure that the event will be carried out smoothly.

Source: Gilbert Goh

February 10, 2015
Singaporean Crowdfunds Donation For 70 Year Old Uncle Cheated Of Life Savings

Update Feb. 9, 2014, 12.00am: Crowdfunding donation target smashed in 7 hours: More than S$11,700 raised for elderly man conned of life savings

The New Paper on Feb. 8, 2015, broke a story of mind-numbingly wicked proportions about how a 70-year-old man was cheated out of everything and into handing over his $2,000 monthly pay check from working two jobs to two con women in the last 15 years.

The ruse? The two women told him he had owed the government money and he had to repay it.

This resulted in the elderly man, Tan Soy Klang, having to borrow money from his neighbours and 73-year-old sister to feed himself, despite working non-stop.

The cheating was only uncovered in 2013, when his 39-year-old niece returned from Australia and found out what was going on.

She then went to the police.

A 65-year-old woman has been arrested for cheating, while the other 69-year-old woman is assisting the police with investigations.

Singaporeans are quick to act

The story has struck a raw nerve, as within a few hours of the news breaking, one Singaporean, Dan Chen has turned to crowdfunding site Indiegogo to raise money for Mr Tan.

If there is one thing Singaporeans can do well, it is being moved to give money when they sense injustice has occurred.

Previously, a crowdfunding campaign to raise S$1,250 to buy an iPhone 6 for a Vietnamese tourist who was scammed at Sim Lim Square and seen begging on his knees for his money back, raised some S$15,542 (US$12,431) in total.

The funding target was, in fact, breached in 54 minutes, when S$1,600 was raised within an hour’s time.

Source: http://mothership.sg

February 9, 2015
Woman Lodges Police Report Against Three Police Officers For Pushing Her To The Ground During Thaipusam Fracas

A woman in Singapore has reportedly lodged a police report alleging three police officers of pushing her onto the ground during a scuffle that led to three men, including her husband, arrested for rowdy behaviour.

The men were arrested during the annual Hindu Thaipusam procession last Tuesday, and charged with disorderly behaviour.

The incident, where the woman was at as well, allegedly occurred at the junction of Serangoon Road and Desker Road, when three men were arrested for allegedly disrupting, in a rowdy manner, police efforts to stop a group from playing music to accompany kavadi carriers in the area.

A video clip of the incident, uploaded by sociopolitical site The Online Citizen, showed a woman falling to the ground at one point.

Responding to media queries about the report filed, police reportedly said in a statement that a 30-year-old Indian female had lodged it on Wednesday.

“(She) alleged that three officers had hit or pushed her on 3 February 2015 at Desker Road, during the Thaipusam procession,” the statement said while confirming that she is the wife of one of the three accused of disorderly behaviour at the scene, as quoted by Channel NewsAsia.

“Police take a serious view of any allegation against its officers and will investigate each case thoroughly,” the police continued. “However, if the allegations are found to be false, appropriate action, in accordance with our laws, will be taken against any persons found to have furnished false information to the Police.”

Read more about the scuffle that took place at the Thaipusam festival procession here.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

February 9, 2015
PAP Members Alleged Indian Man Arrested In Thaipusam Fracas Insulted Islam

Today’s Straits Times report on the arrest of the three Indians involved in the scuffle during Thaipusam stated that one of the Indians “insulted the police officer’s religion, Islam” during the confrontation.

This had been denied by the Indian in his account of what happened. The Indian man said that he just asked the officer why Muslims are allowed to play their kompang drums whereas Hindus cannot play their urumi on Thaipusam.

PAP members online tried to play up this ‘against Islam’ version to try and get netizens to condemn the men who were arrested. They raised the boogeyman of the 1964 race riots and tried to say that the officers had prevented a race riot.

On the FAP page, PAP member Daniel Tan Boon Huat (Woodgrove branch) harassed Indian Singaporeans and asked if they wanted to get arrested too:

Another PAP member, Johari Bin Mohamed Rais who serves in Aljunied GRC with Victor lye further tried to instigate tensions between Hindus and Muslims:

There is an effort to portray the three Indians as people who insulted Islam to prevent sinkies from uniting against the PAP in this Thaipusam incident. Divide and conquer strategy.

Hope sinkies stay united and not fall for this.

Btw, this is PAP member Daniel Tan Boon Huat who harassed local Indians and threatened them with arrest:

Source: www.therealsingapore.com

February 9, 2015