Independent auditor for Punggol East ‘may be appointed if needed’

SINGAPORE — An independent auditor might be needed to verify figures in Punggol East town council’s finances, depending on how handover negotiations go with Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), said Member of Parliament-elect Charles Chong yesterday.

Getting Punggol East’s finances in order and resolving disputes in the accounts will be the focus in the handover to the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council, said Mr Chong of the PAP, who wrested the single-seat ward from Workers’ Party incumbent Lee Li Lian in last Friday’s General Election.

Mr Chong was responding to AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim’s comments that there were still unanswered questions on the single member constituency’s (SMC) accounts. Mr Chong had said during the hustings that Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council had a surplus of about S$1.7 million when Punggol East was handed over to AHPETC, which claimed Punggol East’s accounts had a deficit of S$282,000.

“If the facts and figures are not in dispute and we are able to verify it without bringing high-powered auditors in, then that would be the best outcome for us. But if there are disputes … and it’s hard to determine what the actual figures are, then we might have to get more higher-level audits done,” he said.

Noting that AHPETC’s annual reports were all qualified, which means auditors had expressed their reservations on the accounts, Mr Chong said it was necessary to ensure the Punggol East accounts were unqualified or without reservations. “If we do combine with Pasir Ris-Punggol (Town Council), we must have a clean set of records because putting a set of qualified records together with clean records would endanger all the records being qualified,” he said.

Mr Chong also said established guidelines for the handover should make the transfer “smoother and easier”. Mr Chong, who won 51.76 per cent of the votes in the election, was speaking to reporters at his first Meet-the-People Session at Blk 124A Rivervale Drive. Forty-two residents turned up by 10pm last night.