SINGAPORE — The two-day debate in Parliament on the accounting lapses by the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) ended yesterday the same way as it began, with fireworks and trading of barbs.

But calls by Cabinet ministers and a People’s Action Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the Workers’ Party (WP) to take concrete steps to resolve the matter, such as mounting a forensic investigation and pursuing legal action against the town council’s managing agent, FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), went unanswered by the opposition party.

Nevertheless, there was unanimous support from all the 85 MPs present — including all the WP MPs in attendance — for the motion tabled by National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan which, among other things, called on town councils to uphold higher standards of accounting, reporting and corporate governance to safeguard residents’ interests. It also sought MPs’ support to strengthen laws governing town councils in order to “hold those responsible for their good management to proper account”.

The division bell — called by Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Liang Eng Hwa — was rung at the end of yesterday’s debate, which lasted about thee-and-a-half hours. In a division, the vote of each MP is collected and tabulated through an electronic voting system to ascertain whether the motion has the support of two-thirds of the total number of elected MPs. “This is a matter on which it is important for each (MP) to take a stand explicitly,” Mr Khaw said.

Wrapping up the debate, Mr Khaw expressed his disappointment with the response of the WP MPs over the two days. “I was initially cheered by (WP chief) Mr Low Thia Khiang’s declaration that WP would support the motion. I thought, finally, they have acknowledged the mess they are in and their residents can look forward to being out of the hole,” said Mr Khaw.

“But my optimism was short-lived. He went straight into a political speech, playing the victim of an unfair political world created by the Government and calling for the depoliticisation of the transition process.”

He added: “Soon after, (WP chairman) Sylvia Lim and its other MPs spoke, repeating their objections to the Auditor-General’s Office’s (AGO) findings, objections, which were rebutted explicitly by AGO and documented in the AGO report.”

The AGO audit report on AHPETC, which was made public on Monday, had found major lapses including a failure to transfer monies into the sinking-fund bank accounts as required by the Town Councils Financial Rules, inadequate oversight of related party transactions, not having a system to monitor arrears of service and conservancy charges accurately, poor internal controls and no suitable system to safeguard documents and keep proper accounts and records as required by the Town Councils Act.

Reiterating that the motion was not about “PAP versus WP”, but about the residents of the opposition wards, Mr Khaw said the WP MPs had “made light” of the AGO findings when they asserted that there was no evidence of loss of money or fraudulent activity.

This was a misrepresentation of the AGO’s conclusions, he said. “In fact, with so many documents missing and the accounts unreliable, who can be sure that there was no wrongdoing?” Mr Khaw said.

Instead of making such an assertion, Mr Low and Ms Lim should “just roll up their sleeves and do real work”, he added. Among other things, the WP leaders should start a serious forensic probe and pursue all the AGO findings, clean up the accounts and put right the flawed structure. They should also institute a robust system, discipline errant officers, get FMSS to return the money and explain the matter to residents, Mr Khaw said.

He also called on AHPETC to submit a clean set of accounts for FY2013 and FY2014 to Parliament by June 30 and Aug 31, respectively. “It can’t be just lip service, a convenient way of sliding past this debacle, to live and fight another day. Demonstrate your sincerity through real actions,” said Mr Khaw. “These are not high hurdles … Every town council has been able to do this, including those run by opposition MPs in the past. This is what supporting the motion means.”

Mr Khaw made reference to the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) saga in 2005, where monies were found to be misused by its then-CEO T T Durai. “The new NKF Board was able to sue the old board and T T Durai in the civil court. I am not sure if this may happen in the case of the town council,” he said.

Apart from Mr Khaw, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat and Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Hri Kumar also urged WP to take concrete steps to get its house in order. “You can outsource work, you cannot outsource responsibility,” said Mr Heng. “The responsibility (to supervise the managing agent) lies squarely with the MPs.”

Apart from a forensic investigation, Mr Hri Kumar said WP should procure an undertaking from FMSS to make available all documents for investigations and conduct a legal suit to recover damages. “It is not enough for the WP to simply say it supports the motion. If it means what it says, it must folllow through by doing everything it can to ensure that all the questions raised in this House are answered and this mess is cleared up once and for all,” he said.