State media censors Tony Tan’s $59 billion loss
while harping on Tan Kin Lian’s investment failure
August 21st, 2011 | Author: Temasek Review
http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/08/21/state-media-censors-tony-tans-59-billion-loss-while-harping-on-tan-kin-lians-investment-failure/
The state media is having a field day harping on presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian’s
investment failures during his stint as CEO of NTUC INCOME while censoring the
shocking S$59 billion loss in reserves suffered by GIC in 2008 when Tony Tan was
still its Deputy Chairman.
In its special feature on the four presidential candidates last night, MediaCorp
highlighted Mr Tan Kin Lian’s ‘bad’ investments in the now-defunct overseas resort
chain Club Nuansa and Ciputra Mall in Jakarta. which led NTUC Income to write off
some $30 million.
The amount lost is ‘peanuts’ compared to the S$59 billion dollars reportedly lost by
GIC during the global financial crisis in 2008.
In January 2008, just when investors are shorting U.S. banks due to shaky
fundamentals, Tony Tan, then Deputy Chairman of GIC poured in billions of dollars
of taxpayers’ monies to take a stake in U.S. banking giant Citigroup and Swiss bank UBS.
“In the case of UBS, they have a worldwide global wealth management business
which is something not replicable by any bank. Citigroup has an international
worldwide consumer business which is also unique…,” Tony Tan said in an
interview with the Business Times.
A few months later, the value of GIC’s shares in Citigroup and UBS crashed after
both got mired in toxic debts during the 2008 global financial crisis. The news was
censored by the Singapore media, but Wall Street Journal reported that GIC
suffered a loss around 59 billion Singapore dollars (US$41.6 billion) in the fiscal
year ended March, making it one of the worst years for the sovereign
wealth fund since it was established in 1981.
The state media should not hide this important information from the people.
How can we trust Tony Tan to ‘guard’ our reserves when GIC lost so much
money under his charge which is still unaccounted for to this very day?
while harping on Tan Kin Lian’s investment failure
August 21st, 2011 | Author: Temasek Review
http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/08/21/state-media-censors-tony-tans-59-billion-loss-while-harping-on-tan-kin-lians-investment-failure/
The state media is having a field day harping on presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian’s
investment failures during his stint as CEO of NTUC INCOME while censoring the
shocking S$59 billion loss in reserves suffered by GIC in 2008 when Tony Tan was
still its Deputy Chairman.
In its special feature on the four presidential candidates last night, MediaCorp
highlighted Mr Tan Kin Lian’s ‘bad’ investments in the now-defunct overseas resort
chain Club Nuansa and Ciputra Mall in Jakarta. which led NTUC Income to write off
some $30 million.
The amount lost is ‘peanuts’ compared to the S$59 billion dollars reportedly lost by
GIC during the global financial crisis in 2008.
In January 2008, just when investors are shorting U.S. banks due to shaky
fundamentals, Tony Tan, then Deputy Chairman of GIC poured in billions of dollars
of taxpayers’ monies to take a stake in U.S. banking giant Citigroup and Swiss bank UBS.
“In the case of UBS, they have a worldwide global wealth management business
which is something not replicable by any bank. Citigroup has an international
worldwide consumer business which is also unique…,” Tony Tan said in an
interview with the Business Times.
A few months later, the value of GIC’s shares in Citigroup and UBS crashed after
both got mired in toxic debts during the 2008 global financial crisis. The news was
censored by the Singapore media, but Wall Street Journal reported that GIC
suffered a loss around 59 billion Singapore dollars (US$41.6 billion) in the fiscal
year ended March, making it one of the worst years for the sovereign
wealth fund since it was established in 1981.
The state media should not hide this important information from the people.
How can we trust Tony Tan to ‘guard’ our reserves when GIC lost so much
money under his charge which is still unaccounted for to this very day?
