Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

WP’s ‘excuses’ cast doubt on its leaders’ integrity: Desmond Lee

SINGAPORE — Firing the latest salvo in what has become a prolonged dispute between the Government and the opposition party, Minister of State (National Development) Desmond Lee said in a statement issued yesterday that the series of excuses the Workers’ Party (WP) has been doling out has cast doubt not only on the competence of its Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), but also on the integrity of its leaders.

Workers' Party Chairman Sylvia Lim. TODAY file photo

Workers' Party Chairman Sylvia Lim. TODAY file photo

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — Firing the latest salvo in what has become a prolonged dispute between the Government and the opposition party, Minister of State (National Development) Desmond Lee said in a statement issued yesterday that the series of excuses the Workers’ Party (WP) has been doling out has cast doubt not only on the competence of its Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), but also on the integrity of its leaders.

Responding to Ms Lim’s lengthy statement published on Wednesday evening, in which she refuted several charges made in an opinion piece by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong, Mr Lee pointed out that Ms Lim, who is also the WP’s chairman, had put the responsibility on the Government and the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) to establish the town council’s true state of affairs, something he described as “a remarkable proposition”.

In her statement, Ms Lim had noted that the People’s Action Party would be the first to hold the WP to account in the event of any issues and said the Government had “all the investigative arms within its disposal to hold the WP to account on any matter under the sun”.

AHPETC has been under the spotlight since early last month for its mounting service and conservancy charges (S&CC) arrears, which led government leaders to press them for answers.

Said Mr Lee: “The elected MPs of Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East, who pride themselves on checking the Government, are now relying on the Government to check them, instead of taking responsibility themselves for accounting to the public what they have done or have not done.”

He added that just last week, the Ministry of National Development (MND) had again reminded the AHPETC to submit its latest arrears report. However, he said its general manager How Weng Fan replied that it had not been able to submit its arrears report because it was no longer on the Action Information Management (AIM) Town Council Management System.

However, the AIM system had already been terminated 19 months before the WP stopped submitting its monthly reports, wrote Mr Lee.

The WP had also been able to submit its reports in Hougang for years since 2008, and for two years in AHPETC, even without the system, he pointed out.

“What is important here is not just AHPETC’s failure to submit required information on S&CC arrears ... What is important is AHPETC’s lack of transparency and Ms Lim’s and her fellow MPs’ failure to be accountable. They have yet to explain why their arrears are so high or disclose what their latest arrears rate is,” he added.

The statement issued by Mr Lee yesterday came with a factsheet rebutting some of what it called excuses that have been put forward by the WP.

For instance, although the WP leaders gave the excuse that its town council was delayed in submitting its monthly S&CC arrears reports as it was busy with the AGO audit, the MND said the AHPETC had already stopped submitting them from May last year, 10 months before the AGO audit had even begun.

Ms Lim also “blames” the AHPETC’s own auditors for its delay in submitting its reports, said Mr Lee.

But the town council was audited by the same auditor, Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton, in 2012 and the AHPETC was able to submit its monthly S&CC arrears report on time until April last year, he said.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.