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Tag: hougang

  • Operasi Penyemburan Asap Dimulakan Di Simon Place, Sehari Selepas Kelompok Zika Dikesan

    Operasi Penyemburan Asap Dimulakan Di Simon Place, Sehari Selepas Kelompok Zika Dikesan

    Sehari selepas kelompok Zika yang pertama tahun ini disahkan di Simon Place di Hougang, operasi penyemburan asap mula dijalankan di estet perumahan tersebut.

    Semalam (29 Mac), Agensi Sekitaran Kebangsaan (NEA) mengesahkan bahawa dua anggota keluarga di estet itu dijangkiti virus Zika.

    Notis NEA yang dipasang di kawasan itu menyatakan NEA akan menjalankan operasi penyemburan asap haba di kawasan-kawasan luar di kejiranan itu untuk menghapuskan nyamuk-nyamuk dewasa yang boleh merebakkan virus tersebut.

    Para pegawai NEA juga dilihat mengunjungi para penduduk dari rumah ke rumah sekitar 9.00 pagi untuk memaklumkan bahawa operasi penyemburan asap akan bermula tidak lama lagi.

    Anggota Parlimen GRC Aljunied Sylvia Lim bercakap kepada para wartawan pagi tadi semasa mengunjungi kawasan itu semasa operasi NEA dijalankan.

    “Para penduduk di kawasan itu sudah biasa dengan kelompok penyakit-penyakit bawaan nyamuk – dalam beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini, penularan denggi juga berlaku di sini. Jadi mereka agak berdaya tahan, mereka secara umum tahu apa yang harus dilakukan dan cara melindungi diri mereka,” katanya.

    Selain operasi penyemburan asap di kawasan-kawasan luar, para pegawai NEA juga akan menyembur selaput wap dengan isi padu rendah di semua rumah, katanya, dan menggesa semua penduduk memberi kerjasama.

    “Saya faham pada masa lalu sesetengah penduduk diperiksa beberapa kali dan mereka agak letih. Tapi anda tidak akan tahu jika keadaan sudah berubah, jadi tolonglah bekerjasama dengan pihak berkuasa,” ujarnya.

    “Pada masa yang sama, kami mesti terus bertenang dan terus memikirkan perspektifnya… jangan terlalu panik dengan situasi ini.”

    KLINIK-KLINIK: TIADA LAGI KES DIKESAN

    Para doktor biasa (GP) di kawasan itu yang bercakap kepada Mediacorp pagi tadi berkata tiada di kalangan pesakit mereka menunjukkan tanda-tanda Zika.

    Namun Dr Chua Boon Ling dari Simon Road Family Clinic berkata dalam dua minggu lepas, seorang pesakit datang dengan simptom flu dan kembali beberapa hari kemudian dengan demam panas.

    Dr Chua berkata oleh kerana kawasan itu diisytiharkan sebagai kelompok Zika, Dr Chua berkata beliau akan memantau pesakit itu.

    Klinik itu juga akan menjalankan ujian-ujian terhadap pesakit yang disyaki dijangkiti Zika.

    Source: BeritaMediacorp

  • WP Takes Backhanded Swipe At Minister Shanmugam’s Comments On Town Council Affairs

    WP Takes Backhanded Swipe At Minister Shanmugam’s Comments On Town Council Affairs

    The Law and Home Affairs Minister, K Shanmugam, in speaking on the the investigation of the General Manager of Ang Mo Kio Town Council (AMKTC) by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) contrasted the approaches of PAP-run town council with the one run by Workers’ Party (WP). WP’s then-Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council, has been under scrutiny for its relationship between its former managing agent FM Solutions and Services (FMSS) and Essential Maintenance Service Unit (EMSU) contractor FM Solutions and Integrated Services (FMSI).

    Mr Shanmugam alleged that unlike the PAP-run town council, the Workers’ Party-run town council has not been transparent with the general public.

    The Workers’ Party in responding to Mr Shanmugam’s harsh criticisms of its town council management said that “since CPIB is investigating the AMKTC case, we should let due process take its course and not jump to conclusions.”

    In its statement, WP pointed out that when their auditors released the report on AHTC in July 2016, “some people jumped prematurely on the possibility of fraud and fictitious payments without waiting for the results of the audit.”

    Their auditor, KPMG, had said in the July 2016 report that the use of this “highly irregular shortcut” made it “practically impossible” to have effective oversight of these transactions.

    They added: “Such large-scale use of this practice raises questions about the management of AHTC’s finance function. Consequently, it is easier for duplicate payments or fictitious payments to be made without being detected.”

    Mr Shanmugam had then taken issue with the manner the WP announced the lapses highlighted by its auditors. In a Facebook post, the Minister said KPMG’s report underlined that “AHTC’s leadership has neither upheld nor enforced integrity and ethical values”.

    “The rot is at the top,” he added. “This should come as no surprise. The High Court and the Court of Appeal have already criticised Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Pritam Singh for suppressing the truth (designed to mislead) both in Parliament and in Court. To them, the truth is a tradable commodity.”

    Aljunied-Hougang Town Council subsequently ordered a 100% check on the $60m direct journal entry and dummy code issues.

    WP’s unsigned statement today said, “when no fraud and fictitious payments were found, the speculators kept quiet.”

    The statement further said: “Premature speculation, especially when done by influential people, may pervert the course of justice by shaping investigations. So let’s wait for the findings of the CPIB on the AMKTC case and let the law take its course.”

     

    Source: http://theindependent.sg

  • WP Chief Low Thia Khiang: KPMG Report On Past Payments & Transactions ‘Inconclusive’

    WP Chief Low Thia Khiang: KPMG Report On Past Payments & Transactions ‘Inconclusive’

    The audit report on the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council’s (AHTC) past payments and transactions remains “inconclusive” despite the manpower and resources spent, said Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang on Wednesday (Nov 2).

    Mr Low was making his first comments on audit firm KPMG’s finding that flawed governance in the WP-run AHTC had exposed millions in public funds to improper use, to the extent there could be criminal conduct if lapses were deliberate.

    “The report seems to have a lot of answering (to do) despite the fact that they had deployed a lot of manpower, public monies (were) used, and eight months spent,” said Mr Low, who was speaking to reporters before the start of his fortnightly Meet-the-People Session at the void deck of Block 522 Hougang Avenue 6. “The town council also spent a lot of manpower responding to their queries. The MPs were also being interviewed to satisfy their questions, but unfortunately the report seems to be inconclusive in that sense. So that’s it.”

    KPMG’s 68-page report, which was made public by AHTC on its website on Tuesday, flagged “serious conflicts of interest” and a “failed control environment” which exposed millions of dollars in public funds to improper use, including in payments to its former managing agent FM Solutions & Services and service provider FM Solutions and Integrated Services.

    The owners of these two companies concurrently held key management and financial control positions in the town council and approved 132 payment vouchers amounting to more than S$23 million from the town council to the company.

    KPMG also said improper payments to FMSS and FMSI alone amounted to over S$1.5 million, of which at least S$600,000 ought to be recovered by the town council.

    The improper payments to FMSS and FMSI included overpayments for project management fees, overpayments to FMSS for purported overtime and CPF contributions payments to FMSS without certification that work had been performed, as well as payments made without the requisite co-signature of members of the town council.

    AHTC also overpaid when it appointed FMSS as its managing agent by more than S$1.2 million.

    Responding to these issues, Mr Low reiterated the points in a statement issued by his party on Tuesday, saying KPMG had found “no fictitious, fraudulent, nor duplicate payments”.

    “So that is what is important for the public to know,” he added.

    Mr Low also said the report “has not said anything” about conflicts of interest among the WP Members of Parliament, the town councillors, FMSS, and other contractors it appointed.

    “To me, the report is simply more detailed than AGO’s report, in terms of the framework, and the kind of lapses they found are basically as the AGO’s but in more detail, yes, because they had spent a lot of time going through the records. It is a forensic audit,” he added.

    Mr Low was referring to a special audit by the Auditor-General’s Office that found major lapses in compliance and governance in AHTC. The finding led to a High Court ordering AHTC to appoint auditors to fix these lapses.

    After fielding questions for five minutes, Mr Low ended the doorstop interview, saying the town council was still studying KPMG’s report and would issue media releases on the matter, if necessary.

    Meanwhile, Nanyang Technological University accounting professor El’fred Boo said the proposed amendments to the Town Councils Act would help strengthen governance in a few ways, such as how to avoid conflict of interest situations. But he felt that there could be other changes, such as a requirement to set clear objectives and performance milestones to make it easier to assess them and hold them accountable.

    More regular compliance audits could also be made a requirement to boost the Ministry of National Development’s ability to monitor the situation at individual town councils, said Associate Professor Boo. At the same time, there should be a channel for people to report matters of concern to the town council chairman and/or MND, he added.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • KPMG: ‘Pervasive Control Failures’ In AHTC

    KPMG: ‘Pervasive Control Failures’ In AHTC

    Independent auditors have found that flawed governance in the Workers’ Party-run Aljunied Hougang Town Council (AHTC) led to improper payments running into the millions to various parties, including to its former managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS) and service provider FM Solutions and Integrated Services (FMSI).

    In a report made public on the town council’s website on Tuesday (Nov 1), KPMG said improper payments to FMSS and FMSI alone amounted to over S$1.5 million.

    AHTC also overpaid when it appointed FMSS as its managing agent by more than S$1.2 million, said KPMG, which was appointed by AHTC on court orders to help fix compliance and governance lapses uncovered in a special audit by the Auditor-General’s Office.

    Flagging “serious conflicts of interest” and a “failed control environment” at the town council, the auditing firm also warned that if the issues involving FMSS and FMSI were deliberate, “they could amount to criminal conduct, the implications of which the Town Council should consider”.

    KPMG’s latest report centred on improper payments made by the council to various parties, in particular to FMSS and FMSI, which were appointed between 2011 and last year.

    Their appointments “exposed the Town Council to serious conflicts of interest as the direct owners of FMSS and FMSI (with a profit motive) concurrently held key management and financial control positions in the Town Council (charged with a service motive)”, said KPMG.

    For example, Mr Danny Loh – who died last year – was secretary in the town council as well as shareholder of FMSS, and sole proprietor of FMSI.

    “The situation of FMSS is unlike that of the Town Council’s previous managing agents. In the former case, those approving payments for the Town Councils were not beneficiaries engaging in a profit-motive transaction with the Town Council,” said KPMG.

    In the case of FMSS, the “conflicted persons” were in effect “approving payments to themselves”.

    Meanwhile, the Town Councillors relinquished an “unacceptably high degree of financial responsibility” to the conflicted persons.

    “In this regard, payments with an aggregate financial value of at least SG$23 million involved approvals by the conflicted persons of payments in effect to themselves through payment vouchers, which is an important gateway in the Town Council’s payment approval process,” KPMG said.

    In this “failed control environment”, the improper payments to FMSS and FMSI included amongst others, overpayments to FMSS for project management fees, overpayments to FMSS for purported overtime and CPF contributions payments to FMSS without certification that work had been performed, as well as payments to FMSS that were made without the requisite co-signature of members of the town council.

    These amounted to about S$1.5 million, of which at least S$600,000 ought to be recovered by the town council, said KPMG.

    The firm also said the tendering out of the contracts to FMSS and FMSI was “deficient in numerous respects”.

    For one, for the first managing agent contract, FMSS was more expensive than the comparable contract with the former Aljunied Town Council managing agent.

    When the contract was renewed — the second managing agent contract — the rates increased significantly. The increase in the managing agent’s costs in the first year under FMSS amounted to approximately S$500,000, while under the second managing agent contract the rates were, conservatively, S$700,000 million more that what might have cost to retain CPG as the managing agent.

    Overall, KPMG reported “pervasive” control failures cutting across key areas of AHTC’s governance, financial control, financial reporting, procurement and records management over the audit period. Such flawed governance has potential to “conceal and hinder the detection and identification of all instances of proper payment”, said the accountants.

    As a result, KPMG said it was unable to conclude whether the improper payments and the amounts that ought to be recovered identified in the report are exhaustive.

    Noting that it is beyond the auditors’ mandate to conclude whether an offence has been committed, KPMG said: “While our work was not focused on identifying potential criminal acts arising from the issues we observed, we are advised that, had the shortcomings (identified in) this report been committed deliberately, they could amount to criminal conduct, the implications of which the town council should consider.”

    AHTC said it is studying the report and will respond in due course.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Hougang Residents Face Faeces Thrown At Their Flat

    Hougang Residents Face Faeces Thrown At Their Flat

    For the past four months, housewife Yeo Choon Lan, 66, has kept her kitchen windows closed and covered with a large plastic sheet.

    It might be unsightly, but it’s better than the alternative.

    Madam Yeo said in Mandarin: “A neighbour upstairs has been throwing faeces from their kitchen and bathroom window. I cannot sleep well at night because I’m afraid that it will enter the room or even break my window.”

    Nine pieces of excrement were found on the floor and walls outside Madam Yeo’s ground level unit at Block 694 Hougang Street 61 when The New Paper visited on Tuesday.

    Her ordeal began in May this year when she heard loud plopping noises outside her window at around 4am.

    But despite informing organisations, including the National Environmental Agency (NEA), the situation remains unchanged.

    Aside from more flies and ants, the excrement was untouched when TNP visited last Wednesday.

    The onslaught was the worst in June, when she would hear faeces thrown three times a day.

    “Excrement has fallen around 20 times (since May). It’s a very foul smell and we are very distressed,” said Madam Yeo, who lives with her husband, 69, and daughter, 40.

    The issue has also hurt her relations with her neighbours, a 32-year-old woman and her mother who live on the third storey and whom Madam Yeo suspects are the culprits.

    “Once, I saw the mother leaving the toilet shortly after some night soil had fallen,” Madam Yeo said.

    A neighbour on the third storey told TNP: “It’s very gross, I don’t dare go to the back where the faeces is.”

    Madam Yeo filed three police reports between June and September.

    LAWYERS WEIGH IN

    If charged, the culprit caught throwing faeces can face a fine not exceeding $1,000, said Mr Justin Tan, an associate lawyer at Trident Law Corporation.

    To initiate action, Madam Yeo will have to pay $20 to file a Magistrate’s Complaint, he said.

    The guilty party can then be charged under the Environmental Public Health Act.

    Mr Tan said: “The court will issue a notice for the person throwing excrement to attend court. They can then go through mediation or the victim can apply for the person to be charged.”

    However, if the faeces enters Madam Yeo’s compound, the offender can be charged under the Protection from Harassment Act, said lawyer Lim Kia Tong.

    “The magistrate can order the police to investigate,” said Mr Lim.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg