AHTC trial: Town councillors grilled over not raising questions about managing agent’s appointment

SINGAPORE — Two councillors from the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) were on Monday (Oct 29) grilled about why they had not raised questions over the appointment of a managing agent without tender in 2011.

Continuing to take the stand on Monday morning was AHTC town councillor and long-time Hougang resident and volunteer Kenneth Foo Seck Guan, who told the court that it “did not occur to me” to raise the question to the town council whether there was a conflict of interest in the husband-wife owner duo of FM Solutions and Services (FMSS).

FMSS was AHTC’s managing agent in the wake of the Workers’ Party’s (WP) historic election showing in 2011, where it wrested Aljunied Group Representation Constituency from the People’s Action Party (PAP).

Mr Foo told the court, under cross-examination, that he had assumed that Danny Loh and his wife How Weng Fan were shareholders of FMSS, but did not raise questions.

Loh, who died in 2015, is the ex-secretary of the town council, and his wife was the general manager of the town council.

Both Ms How and Loh, along with three WP Members of Parliament (MPs), Mr Foo and another town councillor Chua Zhi Hon, are embroiled in two multi-million dollar lawsuits.

They are sued by an independent panel acting on behalf of AHTC, as well as the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC), which want them to account for alleged improper payments made to FMSS and other third-party service providers.

Mr Foo agreed with Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who was representing PRPTC, that he should have asked because he “needed to know if there was a conflict of interest”, but said it did not occur to him to do so.

“Therefore you did not discharge your duties as a town councillor. You didn’t ask, but you agreed that was a conflict of interest,” Mr Singh put it to Mr Foo.

Also taking the stand on Monday morning was Mr Chua, who told the court he left it to the elected MPs to discuss — and arrive at an outcome on — the appointment of a new managing agent.

While FMSS was appointed as AHTC’s managing agent in Aug 2011, Mr Chua told the court he did not raise any questions surrounding FMSS’ appointment in the subsequent town council meeting in Sept that year.

But Mr Singh charged that even if he was at the Aug 2011 town council meeting — which he did not attend — he “would have accepted the decision” without any questions, because he had “trusted the elected MPs”.

Mr Chua said: “I disagree that just because of trust, I did not ask questions. We have to place our trust in the elected MPs to make decisions, (but) we still have to put our minds to (the matter).”

Mr Singh replied: “The fact that you did not question it (even in the subsequent town council meeting) showed that you were content.”

But standing his ground, Mr Chua said: “I had no reasons to question it. In my view (the appointment of FMSS) was in the best interest of the residents.”

Asked by Mr Singh about the waiver of tender, Mr Chua said factors such as “the political situation”, and a lack of time, were at play.

He said the fact that CPG Facilities Management, which had been Aljunied Town Council’s previous managing agent, had wanted out “weighed heavily on me”.

“Why would someone ask to leave when they are making money?” Mr Chua told the court.

Mr Chua, who was also on the Tenders and Contracts committee of AHTC, was also asked by Mr Singh if he agreed that AHTC needed to have “leverage” in negotiating terms of a new town council managing agent contract.

Mr Chua agreed to the point, but said that one “readily available fallback” should negotiating terms with FMSS for a tender fail was to revert to direct management.

But Mr Singh pointed out to Mr Chua the tight deadlines the committee had to contend with — its first meeting was held on June 1, 2012, but FMSS’ initial contract for managing agent services was due to end on July 14 that year.

A third witness, current AHTC general manager Koh Weng Kong, also took the stand. Mr Koh, known also as Vincent Koh, had been with Hougang Town Council since 2000, then left around 2011 due to health issues, but continued briefly at the town council again, before joining FMSS as a director and shareholder.

Mr Koh will carry on testifying in the afternoon.