AHTC granted extension to make remaining sinking fund transfer by April 15

SINGAPORE — The Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) has been granted an extension by the Court of Appeal to make its last outstanding transfer to its sinking fund by April 15.

In November last year, the Workers’ Party-run town council had been ordered to make the two overdue sinking fund transfers within three months.

The late transfers and other major lapses in compliance and governance within the town council were red-flagged by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) in a special audit last year. It led to the Ministry of National Development (MND) withholding two years of grants worth S$14 million to AHTC, which was formerly known as Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council.

In a statement on Thursday (March 3), AHTC chairman Pritam Singh said that time extension for the remaining sinking fund transfer was granted by the apex court on Wednesday. The other outstanding transfer was made in January.

He added that AHTC has been working with the MND for the disbursement of the withheld grants for FY14/15 and FY15/16.

“We will provide a further update in due course,” he said.

On Monday, AHTC said they have appointed a team of accountants from KPMG to go through its books to fix the lapses identified in the AGO report, as ordered by the courts.

After an impasse over the credentials of its earlier three choices, AHTC was told to pick from among the Big Four accounting firms — KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers — by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, so that this “matter of public interest and involving public funds” is not delayed further.

The firm is expected to put up its first monthly report by April 15.