SINGAPORE — There is a “world of difference” between the lapses found in government agencies as highlighted in the Auditor-General Office (AGO) report and those at the Worker’s Party-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), said Senior Minister of State (Finance and Law) Indranee Rajah in Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 16).
“They are different in scale, in nature and in the way government agencies and the town council have each responded to problems when they are found,” said Ms Indranee, who was responding to a question posed by Member of Parliament Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) on the difference between the two reports.
In terms of scale, Ms Indranee quoted the report issued by KPMG, AHTC’s appointed independent auditor, which found that problems were systemic in nature, cutting across several key areas of governance and “is an issue larger than the sum of individual lapses at AHTC”.
“There has been no such systemic problem in government. From this year's and past’s years AGO report, there is no evidence of widespread compliance problems. There's certainly no culture of non-compliance,” she noted.
As for related third-party transactions which were flagged in both AHTC and more recently in Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and its subsidiary Nanyang Polytechnic International (NYPi), Ms Indranee highlighted that there was a key difference in whether personal gain was involved.
Key management staff like the town council’s general manager and secretary of the then-Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town council (AHPETC) were also director and owner in companies the town council hired to provide services. On the part of the directors of NYP and NYPi, however, there was no personal interest involved, and no leakage of money to any third parties, she noted.
When problems were flagged, AHTC also did not take prompt measures to rectify them despite repeated requests by the Ministry of National Development (MND) until the case was brought before the courts.
“We understand AHTC is working on its remedial plans. In the June 2016 KPMG report, AHTC has updated and implemented its revised conflict of interest policy which now extends to AHTC town councillors, management and employees and supporting procedures to manage conflicts of interest. However, the other remediation plans on the governance of related party transactions were still unresolved,” said Ms Indranee.
“In contrast, every agency takes AGO findings seriously. Where there are lapses, they are openly acknowledged, and steps taken to address them as soon as possible,” she said. “To conclude, let me emphasise once again that the lapses found in the government are wholly different from AHTC's problem. Our accounts are reliable, unlike AHTC’s. There is no systemic weakness in government agencies unlike what the auditors have found at the town council.”
http://www.todayonline.com/singapor...-scale-nature-those-ago-report-indranee-rajah
“They are different in scale, in nature and in the way government agencies and the town council have each responded to problems when they are found,” said Ms Indranee, who was responding to a question posed by Member of Parliament Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) on the difference between the two reports.
In terms of scale, Ms Indranee quoted the report issued by KPMG, AHTC’s appointed independent auditor, which found that problems were systemic in nature, cutting across several key areas of governance and “is an issue larger than the sum of individual lapses at AHTC”.
“There has been no such systemic problem in government. From this year's and past’s years AGO report, there is no evidence of widespread compliance problems. There's certainly no culture of non-compliance,” she noted.
As for related third-party transactions which were flagged in both AHTC and more recently in Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and its subsidiary Nanyang Polytechnic International (NYPi), Ms Indranee highlighted that there was a key difference in whether personal gain was involved.
Key management staff like the town council’s general manager and secretary of the then-Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town council (AHPETC) were also director and owner in companies the town council hired to provide services. On the part of the directors of NYP and NYPi, however, there was no personal interest involved, and no leakage of money to any third parties, she noted.
When problems were flagged, AHTC also did not take prompt measures to rectify them despite repeated requests by the Ministry of National Development (MND) until the case was brought before the courts.
“We understand AHTC is working on its remedial plans. In the June 2016 KPMG report, AHTC has updated and implemented its revised conflict of interest policy which now extends to AHTC town councillors, management and employees and supporting procedures to manage conflicts of interest. However, the other remediation plans on the governance of related party transactions were still unresolved,” said Ms Indranee.
“In contrast, every agency takes AGO findings seriously. Where there are lapses, they are openly acknowledged, and steps taken to address them as soon as possible,” she said. “To conclude, let me emphasise once again that the lapses found in the government are wholly different from AHTC's problem. Our accounts are reliable, unlike AHTC’s. There is no systemic weakness in government agencies unlike what the auditors have found at the town council.”
http://www.todayonline.com/singapor...-scale-nature-those-ago-report-indranee-rajah
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