Two Singapore Environment Council employees told to leave on short notice

SINGAPORE — More staff members have been dismissed by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), following the sudden termination of its former executive director Edwin Seah from his duties.

The non-profit organisation — which has Institution of a Public Character status that allows it to collect tax-deductible donations — has sacked its assistant executive director, Mr Gerard Christopher, 43. and its communications director, Ms Shirley Chua, 45. No reasons were given.

The dismissal took place Friday (Nov 11) morning with immediate effect. Speaking to the media, Ms Chua said that she was given no warning, but was “mentally prepared” when instead of letting her handle media queries on Mr Seah’s case, an executive committee member told her to send them to a public relations firm on Tuesday.

Mr Christopher said that the dismissals came a day after the conclusion of SEC’s annual programme, the School Green Awards. “General feedback was ‘well done’, ‘good job’. That was just yesterday,” he said. “Out of the blue, I was given the letter of termination with no reason... Throughout my time there, I had not been given a letter of warning, never been reprimanded,” he added.

When contacted, the council declined to comment. “The board believes it is inappropriate to discuss employment matters with anyone other than the individuals themselves as it is an internal matter,” it said in a statement.

Of the SEC’s programmes, the most notable is its administration of the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme, which endorses industrial and consumer products that have less undesirable effects on the environment.

On Friday, 15 of the remaining 26 staff members in the council were at an impromptu farewell lunch for Ms Chua and Mr Christopher. Mr Seah was also present at the lunch. One employee said that more than half of the team cried when they learnt of the “shock terminations”.

The staff members said that they are demoralised and worried that the abrupt dismissals would “decrease the confidence” for more than a dozen partners and sponsors who work with the council, thus affecting the programmes it runs.

Mr Seah agreed that this is “going to shake confidence”. “People will wonder why people are leaving in quick succession,” he said.

Earlier this week, The Straits Times reported that the council terminated Mr Seah’s employment after suspending him from duty last month, even though an inquiry had cleared him of wrongdoing.

Mr Seah told the media on Friday that a human resources manager delivered the letter to his place at 7pm on Tuesday, and his belongings in the office were later couriered to him.

Mr Seah was suspended over how he planned the Asian Environmental Journalism Awards, a yearly SEC affair that was held last month. There were also suspicions that he was behind an anonymous email sent in February to Singapore newsrooms alleging a conflict of interest involving SEC chairman Isabella Loh and projects she handled. The SEC had dismissed that allegation after a review.

The inquiry was presided by a panel of three SEC board members: Member of Parliament Teo Ho Pin, National Environment Agency director Dalson Chung, and SEC executive committee chairman Lam Joon Khoi.

Mr Jose Raymond, former chief executive of the council, posted on his Facebook account that the dismissals are “a huge disappointment, especially since half the Board is made up of senior government officials, including two current Members of Parliament”.

“Do they condone and support these actions? Whatever happened to helping protect jobs and livelihoods?… The SEC may have a contractual right to terminate the services of any staff without giving reason, but this is morally and ethnically wrong on so many levels,” he added.

TODAY reached out to some of the board members for comments, but they did not respond by press time.