Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

AHPETC overpayment: WP had previously said all was ‘above board’, says Shanmugam

SINGAPORE — Hours after the Ministry of National Development (MND) issued a statement on the former managing agent for Workers’ Party-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) “grossly profiteering” from its work for the town council, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam pointed out that the WP had earlier been asked in Parliament if they intend to recover funds that were overpaid.

SINGAPORE — Hours after the Ministry of National Development (MND) issued a statement on the former managing agent for Workers’ Party-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) “grossly profiteering” from its work for the town council, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam pointed out that the WP had earlier been asked in Parliament if they intend to recover funds that were overpaid.

“They said ‘no everything was above board, they will not recover because it was all fair’. And they justified the payments without disclosing the details,” Mr Shanmgam told reporters at the sidelines of a community event in his constituency.

Mr Shanmugam, who questioned the state of affairs in AHPETC, also compared the figures in the town council’s and FM Solutions and Services’ (FMSS) books.

“FMSS had one client — a single client — the Aljunied TC. FMSS made S$1.5 million in FY2012/2013, and more than S$3 million in FY2013/2014 out of that one town council. The directors/owners were paid … 36 per cent of the total revenue of FMSS - huge profits by any reckoning,” said Mr Shanmugam.

“And if you compare dollar for dollar, in FY2013/2014, the town council had an operating deficit of S$2 million while they made a profit of S$3 million,” he said, adding that there was “obvious overcharging”.

At another community event, People’s Action Party member Janil Puthucheary said that the MND statement raises several questions.

“You have a situation where you have a town council that’s having some cash flow issues - that’s indisputable. And here we have a description by MND that a significant amount of profit is being made by a vendor that’s known to be politically connected by the town council politically for some time,” said Dr Janil at a OnePeople.sg event held at Marina Bay Sands Event Plaza.

“So this raises some questions in my mind about how this situation came to be, how is it that you have a cash flow issue in the town council, and how is it that this large amount of profit is being made a private company, especially given that this is group of people who are known to be political donors. So where is the money going? And why is this not accounted for?” he added.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.