Roy Vs Choo - One Country, 2 Systems in Action. FAIR? ACCEPTABLE? DISGUSTING?

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[h=2]MOH: Roy’s actions incompatible with values expected[/h]

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June 11th, 2014 |
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Author: Editorial




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Following Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s (TTSH) dismissal of
blogger Roy Ngerng (‘Tan
Tock Seng Hospital dismisses Roy Ngerng
‘), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has
issued a statement (10 Jun) supporting TTSH’s decision to terminate Roy’s
employment.

MOH said:


MOH supports TTSH’s decision as Mr Ngerng’s actions show a lack of integrity
and are incompatible with the values and standards of behaviour expected of
hospital employees.
Earlier, TTSH issued a statement saying that Roy’s recent public actions and
conduct have caused the hospital “grave concern”.

TTSH said:


On 15 May 2014, he posted a defamatory article on the internet alleging
misappropriation of funds in relation to the Central Provident Fund. After
receiving a demand letter to remove the posts and apologise, Mr Ngerng publicly
admitted to the defamation, and also that it was without basis.

Mr Ngerng’s conduct was incompatible with the values and standards we expect
of our employees. While our staff are free to pursue their personal interests
outside work, they must conduct themselves properly, honourably and with
integrity. In particular, they cannot defame someone else without basis, which
essentially means knowingly stating a falsehood to the public.

Mr Ngerng’s neglect of duty and his improper public conduct have compromised
his work performance, and are contrary to the high standard of integrity
required of the Hospital’s employees to maintain the trust which is vital
between the Hospital and the public.
GIC staff involved in insider trading

Meanwhile, some staff of another government-linked entity GIC, who were
caught for insider trading some years ago, were allowed to continue to work for
GIC (‘GIC employs officers convicted of insider trading‘).

The insider trading case involved 3 GIC staff in 2003: Lim Kee Chong, Teng
Cheong Thye and Choo Yong Cheen. The case surfaced in 2004 and was reported by
international media when the Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Securities
and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) of Japan reported the matter to the
central bank of Japan [Link].
Subsequently, the trio were fined for insider trading offences by the Monetary
Authority of Singapore (MAS).

FSA is a Japanese government organisation responsible for overseeing banking,
securities and exchange, and insurance in order to ensure the stability of the
financial system of Japan. The agency operates with a commissioner and reports
to the Minister of Finance. It also oversees the Securities and Exchange
Surveillance Commission (SESC) and, the Certified Public Accountants and
Auditing Oversight Board.

According to a 2004 statement on FSA’s website [Link], the
3 GIC staff were guilty of “insider trading involving Japanese securities
market”. The kind of insider trading committed is “cross border transaction”
which is a transaction in the Japanese securities market by a foreign
resident.

FSA further said, “The enforcement action by MAS has come as a result of our
request of investigation into and providing information of a suspicious case of
insider trading, which was detected by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance
Commission of Japan (SESC), based on the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with MAS on the sharing of information on securities matters.”

After being fined by MAS for insider trading, the trio continued to work for
GIC. Teng is believed to have left GIC only in late 2012 but both Lim and Choo
are currently Managing Directors of GIC. In fact, Lim is Group Deputy Chief
Investment Officer [Link]:

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Choo Yong Cheen is part of GIC Investment Groups (Special Investments). He is
currently in charge of direct investments in Asia as well as funds and
co-investments in Asia and the emerging markets:

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Further online checks reveal that Lim is on the industry-related sanction
list of the CFA Institute.

The US-based CFA Institute [Link] is a prestigious,
non-profit, association of investment professionals from over 100 countries
worldwide. The organization offers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
designation, the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM)
designation, as well as the Claritas Investment Certificate.

On its website, CFA Institute has a section which lists individuals who,
since 1 January 2000, are serving public disciplinary sanctions for violations
of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct or who
have resigned their memberships while under investigation for industry-related
misconduct. Lim’s name appears in the list [Link].

CFA Institute conducted its own hearing in 2010 and found Lim to have
violated the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct
with regard to the 2003 insider trading incident. This was later affirmed by
another review panel in 2011. This is what CFA Institute said of Lim:

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It is not known if Lim voluntarily disclosed his past insider trading case to
CFA Institute in 2010 or the CFA Institute found out about it 7 years later.

It is also not known if the MAS knows that CFA Institute heard Lim Kee
Chong’s case in 2010 and blacklisted him subsequently, 7 years after the insider
trading incident.

In any case, did the actions of Lim and Choo, who are still working in GIC,
show “a lack of integrity” and were they also “incompatible with the values and
standards of behaviour” expected of GIC staff?

One country, two systems?

What do you think?
 
Nothing to think about really. Because it is not quite unexpected.
 
<cite class="fn">Chris K:</cite>

June
11, 2014 at 9:36 am
Chris
K(Quote)


Freaking unbelievable. That tells you all you need know about double
standards in the government and its related affiliates.

To my point of view, any alleged misconduct by Roy Ngerng has no basis for
comparison to the offence committed by the 3 GIC officers. Under Japanese law
and in most jurisdiction, this is a criminal offence. Has anyone accused Roy of
criminal activities by contrast? That the 3 GIC officers continues to work for
GIC and in fact promoted, is even more shocking. It probably tells us that
offence committed discharging duties on behalf of GIC is not considered
offences. How can that be? At a minimum , it calls into question the standard of
conduct tolerated by GIC and has consequences to its reputation and integrity,
an important factor when operating in financial markets and investing in other
sovereign jurisdiction. GIC is managing our savings, as the govt has admitted,
do we want our money to be tarnished?

By the way we have yet to hear about the Deutsche Bank investigation of
divulging sensitive market information to MAS. Is the immunity to prosecution
and punishment given the officers of the agencies such as MAS and GIC to conduct
themselves with total impunity?


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