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Not complying with govt rules may cost officers promotion, pay rise

SINGAPORE — Public officers may see their salary increment withheld or be debarred from promotions for a few years if they commit lapses in complying with government rules and procedures, even where there is no evidence of fraud or corrupt intent.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. TODAY file photo

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — Public officers may see their salary increment withheld or be debarred from promotions for a few years if they commit lapses in complying with government rules and procedures, even where there is no evidence of fraud or corrupt intent.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugratnam said this in Parliament today (Aug 17) as he responded to questions from Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Mohd Ismail Hussein on lapses uncovered in the Auditor-General Office’s (AGO) report for financial year 2014/2015.

Among other things, Mr Mohd Ismail asked about the measures that would be taken by the agencies to tighten controls and avoid serious lapses.

Mr Tharman, who is also the Finance Minister, stressed that officers responsible for lapses are taken to task. “Because of the consistent way we have dealt with lapses in the past, all public officers and their supervisors know that if they are responsible for any misdoing, firm measures including disciplinary actions will be taken whenever necessary,” said Mr Tharman.

The cases highlighted in the latest AGO report were administrative or procedural lapses due to a “lack of knowledge, carelessness or poor supervison”, except for lapses related to the procurement of electronic resources by the National Library Board (NLB) which has been referred to the police for further investigations. The police are investigating “possible wrongdoings” but details of the case are sketchy, amid the police probe.

Mr Tharman noted that the lapses were in complying with rules and procedures “which the Government imposes on itself to ensure proper conduct”.

Each agency takes every lapse seriously, and ensures improvements are made promptly, he reiterated. Depending on the problem, these include closer monitoring by supervisors and internal auditors, improved and clearer internal guidelines for officers, enhanced IT systems to enable better tracking, and developing fund administration guidelines for management of programme vendors.

Responding to Mr Mohd Ismail’s question on whether outcomes of the agencies’ investigations into the lapses would be made public, Mr Tharman said the Public Accounts Committee comprising of MPs can ask public agencies to give a full account of areas of concerns. Agencies can also be asked to submit their investigation reports, while the committee can give its opinions and assessment of the agencies’ follow-up action in Parliament or publicly.

“To go beyond this and make public each agency’s investigations into every lapse each year will not help in ensuring the thorough internal investigations needed to get to the bottom of things,” added Mr Tharman, stressing that the key is for agencies to take lapses seriously and to avoid recurrence.

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