Update on MND's appeal to appoint independent accountants for Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.
The court has turned down the appeal.
However the court has ordered the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council to appoint the accountants directly.
Among the things the accountants are required to do is to submit
monthly progress reports to the HDB. They will also have the power to
investigate whether past payments made by the town council were
improper.
The court also ordered the town council to make all sinking fund transfers within 3 months from today.
In arriving at its decision, the Court of Appeal had found that AHPETC had breached the Town Councils Act by failing to “‘do all things necessary to ensure’ that (a) its payments are correctly made and properly authorised; and (b) adequate control is maintained over its assets and expenditure”.The Court noted, in particular, the following:
(a) There “were various lapses in internal controls, which exposed AHPETC to the risk of the loss of money or valuables, commitment to expenditure without requisite approval as well as wrong payment for goods and services”.
(b) There was “inadequate oversight of related party transactions” by AHPETC and “key officers of AHPETC also acted in clear conflict of interests when they approved payment to FMSS (a company in which they were themselves the directors and shareholders)”.
(c) It did not appear that AHPETC “had (or has as yet) seriously considered whether and, if so, what steps need to be taken to recover possible sums due from wrong payments”.
(d) AHPETC “did not have a system to monitor the scale of its conservancy and service arrears accurately” and “did not have a proper system to ensure that documents were properly accounted for and safeguarded, and its accounting systems and procedures were inadequate”.
http://app.mnd.gov.sg/Portals/0/Joint%20MND%20and%20HDB%20statement_Annex%20A_27112015.pdf
N
ot building a proper place to hold MPS is not about 'prudence' but about keeping up the illusion that it is hard to be 'opposition' in Singapore. It is helpful to scoring political points by giving the false impression that both WP and residents who voted for them are being 'bullied'. But the truth is that rental for the use of void deck space is at concessionary rates similar to what charity organisations have to pay and the residents are being 'punished' by WP by being exposed to the elements during MPS just so that WP can continue to play victim to a 'political system' that is of their own invention.
Photo: Fabrications About The PAP
For your information, PAP MPs use the premises of their own PCF kindergartens or their own branch offices built with party's funds.
