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Workers’ Party MPs file joint defence against AHTC lawsuit

SINGAPORE — Three Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament (MPs) have filed their defence against allegations that they acted in breach of their fiduciary duties as town councillors of the Aljunied and Hougang constituencies.

The three Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament facing a multimillion-dollar civil suit over alleged improper payments by their town council have filed a joint defence via their lawyers. TODAY file photo

The three Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament facing a multimillion-dollar civil suit over alleged improper payments by their town council have filed a joint defence via their lawyers. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — Three Workers’ Party (WP) Members of Parliament (MPs) have filed their defence against allegations that they acted in breach of their fiduciary duties as town councillors of the Aljunied and Hougang constituencies.

Laying out the “difficult circumstances” faced in taking over the town council, party chief Low Thia Khiang, Aljunied-Hougang town council (AHTC) chairman Pritam Singh and vice-chairman Sylvia Lim said they had “at all times, acted in good faith and in accordance with (their) duties as town councillors”.

“Our actions had the best interests of the residents of AHTC at heart and sought to ensure that AHTC was able to fulfil all its functions and duties, notwithstanding the difficult circumstances that we were faced with,” they said in a joint statement on WP’s website on Wednesday (Aug 16) evening.

The MPs, represented by lawyers from Tan Rajah & Cheah, stressed that Mr Low and Ms Lim had acted “in the best interests of (their) residents” in appointing FM Solutions & Services (FMSS) as the town council’s managing agent. 

The lawsuit — brought against them by a three-member independent panel on behalf of AHTC — had accused the MPs of setting up a faulty system that allowed the appointment of FMSS, and made it possible for the company and/or its officers to benefit themselves.

It also charged that the MPs entered into contracts with architects in breach of duties owed to AHTC.

The lawsuit was filed last month by the panel, consisting of senior lawyers Philip Jeyaretnam and N Sreenivasan as well as accountant Ong Pang Thye. 

They were appointed in February to recommend the recovery actions the AHTC needs to take over the large sums of improper payments that it had made from its funds. The payments were flagged by the town council’s auditor KPMG in October last year.

In annexes to their defence made available on WP’s website, the MPs laid out challenges they faced after taking over the Hougang Single Member Constituency and Aljunied Group Representation Constituency from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).

After Mr Low took over Hougang in 1991, for instance, he was told that the incumbent managing agent would be terminating its contract with the town council. Upon taking over Aljunied in 2011, Mr Low “knew (that) the continuity of essential services by the existing service providers was at risk in light of his earlier experiences”, according to court documents. 

“Their best chance of success, in (Mr Low’s) assessment, was to depend on the existing staff and IT system in Hougang Town Council,” it said. 

He was “proven right”, it added, when none of the three players in the HDB township management prior to the 2011 General Election, which had been serving PAP town councils, submitted bids in an open tender the WP called in 2012 for managing agent services.

“They felt it was disadvantageous for them should they choose to work for opposition town councils since all town councils have political connections. It is therefore unlikely and difficult for them to be willing or sincere in helping the opposition to manage a town well, as that would increase the political clout of WP as a credible opposition party,” the three MPs argued. 

In 2011, the WP was also confronted with the termination of a town council management system by Action Information Management, a company fully owned by the PAP. 

It needed to upscale existing computing and accounting systems in Hougang to avoid disrupting its services to residents. 

There was therefore an “immediate and urgent need” to appoint a replacement, said the MPs. 

They “did not have the luxury of time” to call for an open tender because doing so “could result in a real danger that services to the residents would be disrupted in the meantime”, they added.

 

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