WP’s Sylvia Lim concedes she and fellow MPs breached duties by not disclosing CPG rates to town council

SINGAPORE — During a cross-examination in court on Monday (Oct 23), Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim conceded that she had breached her duty as chairman of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), by failing to disclose the rates charged by the town council's former managing agent CPG Facilities Management at a meeting in 2011.

Her admission prompted Senior Counsel (SC) Davinder Singh to ask if she meant her fellow Members of Parliament (MPs) from WP had also breached their duties by not doing the same.

After a tense 30-minute exchange marked by prolonged bouts of silence and multiple prompts from Mr Singh to answer his question, Ms Lim finally conceded. Looking visibly distraught, she replied: “Yes, Your Honour.”

The other MPs the lawyer referred to were former WP chief Low Thia Khiang, who was vice-chairman of AHTC, and Mr Pritam Singh.

Ms Lim was taking the stand for the third day as a defence witness in the multi-million-dollar lawsuit brought on by Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) and an independent panel acting on behalf of AHTC. SC Singh is representing PRPTC.

The Aug 4 meeting in 2011 was the first that was held after CPG’s dismissal, where the reasons to waive the tender for a managing agent were presented. FM Solutions and Services (FMSS) was also appointed then as the new managing agent.

SC Singh charged that Ms Lim had gotten approval for the waiver under “false pretence” in order to appoint FMSS quickly.

“You gave the impression to the town council that you had no time to call for a tender because of the position CPG and AIM (Action Information Management) put us in,” said the lawyer. AIM, a computer vendor, used to manage AHTC's IT systems.

Calling the move “dishonesty at its height”, Senior Counsel Singh charged that there was “a plan among all the elected MPs in the beginning to get rid of CPG, get rid of AIM, do it yourself, and achieve it by this time (Aug 4, 2011).”

He also noted that the managing agent’s contract was the “most important” agreement for a town council. He added: “When you waive that tender, you don’t have the advantage of competitive rates, so all the more the need to know what rates were going to be in that waiver. So, why didn’t you do that?”

‘PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY’ ON CHAIRPERSON

Denying that her fellow MPs had breached their duties, Ms Lim told the court that the “primary responsibility” was on her as she failed to attach CPG’s rates, which were the same as what would be paid to FMSS.

She said they had left the presentation to her.

When pressed if her colleagues had failed to comply with their duties by not disclosing those rates, Ms Lim disagreed, stating that it was solely an “inadvertent omission” on her part.

Asked if each town councillor’s duty was to provide that information, “do the right thing”, and act honestly, she would only say that her duty was “much higher” as the other MPs relied on her to do what was necessary.

SC Singh shot back: “Yours higher, theirs lower, (but) they still had duties, (just) at a lower level, (and) those duties were breached, do you agree?”

Ms Lim disagreed, and said upon further probing that it was not fair to them if she answered the question. SC Singh replied that it was not up to her to make that decision.

About 30 minutes after the lawyer first posed the question, Justice Kannan Ramesh intervened to ask Ms Lim to answer the question.

Over the next few minutes, Ms Lim’s composure was clearly shaken, and she replied in a slightly trembling voice: “They should have disclosed the rates, Your Honour.”

When pressed by SC Singh who asked if they had “therefore failed in their duty”, she then conceded that her fellow MPs should have complied with their duty, but they did not.

FAILED TO INFORM EX-AGENT ABOUT TENDER

Ms Lim also conceded earlier on Monday that she had placed Mr Jeffrey Chua, Aljunied Town Council’s outgoing secretary — who was also the managing director of CPG — in a position where he could not properly discharge his duties.

SC Singh pointed out to her that she had breached Section 20 of the Town Councils Act, which states that the secretary is responsible for the proper administration and management of the functions and affairs of the town council. The lawyer charged that she had breached the Act because she failed to inform Mr Chua if a tender for a managing agent would be called so that he could advise them accordingly.

Ms Lim agreed “on hindsight” that Mr Chua needed to know the material facts as AHTC’s interim secretary, even if he had only a few days left to serve.

NO APPROVAL SOUGHT

Ms Lim was also questioned about the approval — or lack of — from the town council for FMSS’ appointment between June 15 and July 15, 2011 in her report on Aug 3 that same year. The report, which sought approval for FMSS’ appointment as managing agent from July 15 onwards, was meant to disclose the full context and reasons for appointing the firm.

She signed a letter of intent on June 15 to affirm FMSS’ appointment, with the firm taking over all existing staff members of the former Hougang Town Council. The letter also stated that FMSS would take over the management of the town council on July 15, 2011 at CPG’s prevailing fees and fee structure.

SC Singh charged that Ms Lim had not sought the town council's approval for the period between June 15 and July 15, and she admitted to that. He then put it to her that she did not seek approval to waive a tender during that period, which was required.

Pointing out that the sum of about S$150,000 paid to FMSS exceeded her financial limit of S$100,000 as chairman, he added: “And that was another breach of the Town Council Financial Rules.”

The lawyer's cross-examination of Ms Lim continues on Tuesday.