Barely three weeks after being co-opted into the highest decision-making body of the People’s Action Party (PAP), the Member of Parliament for Choa Chu Kang GRC has resigned his position.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad, who was one of four PAP members co-opted into the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) on 6 January, had informed the party that he could not take up the post, a statement from the PAP on Friday said.
Mr Zaqy cited “a conflict of interest” as the reason for his decision, the Straits Times reported.
This apparent conflict of interest stems from Mr Zaqy’s employment with accounting firm, Ernst and Young, which is the current auditor for the PAP.
The PAP statement said Mr Baey Yam Keng, MP for Tampines GRC, will replace Mr Zaqy.
Both men were from the same so-called 2006 “P-65” batch of new candidates fielded by the PAP in the general election the same year.
The last PAP MP to tender his resignation from a position he held was Michael Palmer, its then MP for Punggol East SMC, in December 2012.
Mr Palmer, who was Speaker of Parliament at the time, was embroiled in an affair with a constituency director of Pasir Ris West Constituency Office.
