The Minister of National Development, Khaw Boon Wan, has reacted to the findings by the Auditor General that a Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) chairman had awarded two contracts worth S$32,000 to a company at which he was linked to and had also approved S$114,767 of his own claims.
The chairman is reported to be from the Admiralty branch, an area which under Mr Khaw’s Sembawang GRC.
The AGO report highlighted an unnamed Citizens Consultative Committee (CCC) involved in “party related transactions and payments.”
It found that a member of the CCC was involved in approving awards of two contracts totalling $32,000 to a company, and another member was involved in approving one of these contracts.
The two men held senior positions at the company at the time, and had failed to declare the conflict of interest, the AGO said.
“In addition, one of the members was involved in approving payments of the two contracts to the company as well as seven of his own claims amounting to $114,767.”
“As a result,” the AGO said, “there was no assurance that these transactions were conducted at arm’s length.”
Since the release of the AGO report in the late afternoon of 15 July, Wednesday, the unnamed chairman has stepped down.
Mr Khaw said he was “glad” that an investigation conducted by the People’s Association, which oversees all CCCs, into the matter had found that the chairman had not been dishonest.