SINGAPORE — Questions on the S$40 million defraudment of SkillsFuture Singapore and the US$422 million in fines imposed on Keppel Offshore & Marine for corrupt payments in Brazil will come thick and fast when Parliament sits next Monday (Jan 8).

Members of Parliament (MPs) Patrick Tay and Zaqy Mohamad are among those asking the ministries of Education and Finance for details on the bogus SkillsFuture claims made, for which five suspects have been charged in court. The case is the largest defraudment of a public institution to date and SkillsFuture Singapore said last month it has taken “immediate actions to tighten its processes, which include implementing fraud analytics, while conducting a comprehensive review of the system”.

For the Keppel Offshore & Marine case, Workers’ Party MPs such as Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh want to know the implications that the fines arrangement with the authorities in the United States, Brazil and Singapore will have on local law enforcement and prosecutorial decisions. Mr Singh wants to know if conditions in any agreement prevent the public disclosure of identities of Singaporeans involved.

In the wake of foreign preachers being disallowed entry into Singapore, Mr Zaqy and Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap are asking how the Ministry of Home Affairs decides on any ban, the estimated local following of the preachers who have been banned, and whether the ministry finds the move effective.

Other questions posed concern the Ministry of Health’s recent announcement that fee benchmarks for medical procedures would be re-introduced.

The sitting, the first of the year, starts at 11am and takes place ahead of Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat’s delivery of the Budget 2018 on Feb 19.

Proposed laws that will be debated include the Public Sector (Governance) Bill which, among other provisions, allows agencies to share data with one another when directed, “despite any obligation as to confidentiality under the common law”. The Bill also prescribes safeguards against abuses.