• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Public should not jump into conclusion on corruption investigation of PAP town council GM like what some speculators did

by Terry Xu
06/01/2017
in Current Affairs
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0

Workers’ Party has issued a statement, calling for the public not to jump into conclusion in regards to the AMKTC corruption case and the AHTC governance issue.
Just a while ago, the Minister of Home Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam was quoted by media on the investigation by Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) upon the former General Manager of Ang Mo Kio Town Council.
He said, “In Aljunied, it’s court of appeal after court of appeal. You call that good behaviour with public funds? Now even after the final court of appeal, investigations are ongoing because you have a further set of accountants looking at more information. Eventually, it will come full circle after the auditors are finished. There is more to come,” and added, “But this is not the way to do things. The way is to be open and let the law take its course and not hide every step of the way.”
Following his comment, the media asked WP to comment on what Minister Shanmugam has said but WP declined to comment and said, “Since CPIB is investigating the AMKTC case, we should let due process take its course and not jump to conclusions.”
The party went on to state an earlier incident with its July 2016 report where KPMG discovered that Aljunied-Hougang Town Council  (AHTC) used shortcuts to process millions of dollars in payments to related parties and “dummy” vendor codes used for payments and its town council.
It immediately ordered a 100% check on the $60m direct journal entry and dummy code issues whoever, there were some people who jumped prematurely on the possibility of fraud and ficticious payments without waiting for the results of the audit.
“When no fraud and fictitious payments were found, the speculators kept quiet.” said the party statement.
It further states, “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.”
So who might the speculators be?
Back in July 2016, when the first reports from KPMG’s finding was published. Mr K Shanmugan took to his Facebook page and posted a status update to lambast the AHTC which is run by Workers’ Party, saying that  AHTC’s leadership has neither upheld nor enforced integrity and ethical values.
He wrote, “The rot is at the top. 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. I will say more about this in another post.”
The minister also had written that AHTC’s lapses were found by their auditors to be not isolated, but rather “pervasive” and “systemic”.
In relation to the finding that AHTC used shortcuts to process millions of dollars in payments to related parties and “dummy” vendor codes used for payments.
The minister used harsh words by saying, “These practices could have concealed duplicate or fraudulent payments. Obviously, WP’s leadership thought they could play Aljunied residents – and Singaporeans — for dummies.” and said Mr Singh and his colleagues can’t keep Singaporeans in the dark so easily with the many problems identified by KPMG.

However in August when KPMG found no duplicate or fictitious payments with respect to its checks on AHTC’s use of dummy vendor codes, and that all payments were supported by documentation, Mr K Shanmugam then kept quiet with his accusations and did not retract his comments on the matter.
At this point, it would seem that the minister’s comment is much suited to be used to question the PAP town council instead.
As to the minister’s comment about being “open”, it will be still be seen by all on how open will the Peoples’ Action Party be about the investigations and whether the Ministry of National Development and Housing Development Board call for an audit into the town council’s accounts like what was expected of the AHPETC.

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

Leon Perera questions Govt if it seriously considered the link between housing affordability and fertility
Politics

Leon Perera questions Govt if it seriously considered the link between housing affordability and fertility

08/02/2023
Ex-Tokyo Olympics official held on alleged bid-rigging: media
AFP

Ex-Tokyo Olympics official held on alleged bid-rigging: media

08/02/2023
About 30,000, not yet tried and convicted, are in Malaysia’s overcrowded prisons of about 76,336 inmates
Civil Society

About 30,000, not yet tried and convicted, are in Malaysia’s overcrowded prisons of about 76,336 inmates

08/02/2023
Deepfake ‘news anchors’ in pro-China footage: research
AFP

Deepfake ‘news anchors’ in pro-China footage: research

08/02/2023
AFP

Microsoft sees ‘new day’ in war with Google over AI search engines

08/02/2023
过去五年  四成上班族曾遭性骚扰!仅30%受害者举报
AFP

No new variants in weeks after China ended zero-COVID: study

08/02/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

Leon Perera questions Govt if it seriously considered the link between housing affordability and fertility

Leon Perera questions Govt if it seriously considered the link between housing affordability and fertility

08/02/2023
Ex-Tokyo Olympics official held on alleged bid-rigging: media

Ex-Tokyo Olympics official held on alleged bid-rigging: media

08/02/2023
About 30,000, not yet tried and convicted, are in Malaysia’s overcrowded prisons of about 76,336 inmates

About 30,000, not yet tried and convicted, are in Malaysia’s overcrowded prisons of about 76,336 inmates

08/02/2023
Deepfake ‘news anchors’ in pro-China footage: research

Deepfake ‘news anchors’ in pro-China footage: research

08/02/2023

Microsoft sees ‘new day’ in war with Google over AI search engines

08/02/2023
过去五年  四成上班族曾遭性骚扰!仅30%受害者举报

No new variants in weeks after China ended zero-COVID: study

08/02/2023
Stern warnings was an “in-between” solution as CPIB lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute six former KOM executives for bribery, said Indranee Rajah

Basis of conviction by judge in corruption offence debunks claim by AGC of having insufficient evidence to prosecute the six former Keppel executives

08/02/2023
Keppel’s disgraced lawyer testify in US court about bribery scheme but Indranee says insufficient to charge anyone

Keppel’s disgraced lawyer testify in US court about bribery scheme but Indranee says insufficient to charge anyone

08/02/2023

Trending posts

Cognizant India transfers staff to work in Singapore as recently as this year

Local IT grads can’t find jobs while engineers constantly transferred from India to work in SG under CECA

by Correspondent
05/02/2023
111

...

No response from Josephine Teo on whether Mediacorp has been instructed to stop coverage of SMT circulation scandal

No response from Josephine Teo over alleged blackout of coverage by Mediacorp over SMT circulation scandal

by Terry Xu
06/02/2023
13

...

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

by Correspondent
03/02/2023
26

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
48

...

Japanese-Canadian junior high school girl breaks national record with 3km in 9:02 mins

“I want my normal life back,” Sherry Drury withdraws from National Junior High School Tournament due to overheated public attention

by Yee Loon
06/02/2023
4

...

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

by The Online Citizen
02/02/2023
20

...

January 2017
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Dec   Feb »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz