AHPETC Court Case - An Open Letter to Ms Sylvia Lim

An Open Letter to Ms Sylvia Lim

Dear Ms Sylvia Lim,

I am not your resident. I live in East Coast. But I hope you will not ignore me.

In Parliament Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam outlined some questions for the town councilors of AHPETC including:

1. Why did they not comply with normal accounting standards, resulting in millions of dollars in related party transactions?

2. Did they know that the managing agent FMSS was owned by a husband and wife team who were Workers’ Party supporters? Why was FMSS paid $1.6 million more per year compared to other town councils?

3. How much profit did FMSS make? How much were the husband and wife paid?

All these are valid questions. Instead of answering them, MP Pritam Singh stood up in Parliament and said he answered only to residents. If the Law Minister was a resident, said Mr Singh, he would answer him.

This is ridiculous. It has been many weeks since the Parliamentary sitting.

I pay S and C fees and I want some answers too. These are questions that ought to be publicly debated, not just whispered in shadows and coffee shops.

Mr Shanmugam is the Law Minister, and he says what the town councillors did was “unlawful”, taking money from the man in the street and giving it to their friends through town council operations.

He says: “Maybe there was no one taking money through the backdoor in the dark of the night - because the money was going out in broad daylight through the front door.”

Maybe, maybe not, but maybe is not good enough for me. I want to know for sure. It’s time all of us, residents or not, got some answers.

After all, if you are coming to my ward in the next GE, I want to know that my sinking funds are safe.

Joshua Lim

AHPETC: Lawless in Aljunied or WP Laws in Aljunied?

Lawless in Aljunied: Handover issues? What handover issues?

For the past few months, we the residents in Aljunied have been asking for answers – why is the town council run so badly? The reply from AHPETC: Handover issues.

Whether in Parliament, or in their walkabouts, the answer has been the same -  the PAP didn’t handover properly – they withheld access to information. They didn’t help us as much as we wanted. Low Thia Khiang said: “No one wants to work for me!” Sylvia Lim said attempts to get information from MND and the former managing agent “did not yield answers.

But the AGO report said that the WP town council had in fact commissioned a report in the early days when they took over from the PAP team. A footnote in the AGO report said:

"Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) engaged Mazars LLP (Mazars) in July 2011 to carry out a special audit of the financial statements for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 July 2011, prepared for handover of precincts of Aljunied Town Council to AHTC, Ang Mo Kio Town Council and Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council. Mazars issued a clean audit opinion on all the financial statements."

So actually, there are NO HANDOVER ISSUES! AHTC’s own accountants gave the previous PAP team a clean bill of health. So it’s time that the AHPETC stop using the excuse of handover issues, and start answering some questions.

1. From Surplus to Deficit: How? The town council lost $4 million in 3 years. From a surplus of $3.3 million to a deficit of more than $700,000.

2. Money to friends: Why? The AHPETC pays 50% more to its managing agent than neighbouring town councils eg Tampines Town Council. Why?

3. Bullying the small guy: Who? Were the hawkers made to pay for the cleaning of their ceilings? Did the town council call the police on the shopkeepers who complained that there too many trade fairs held by the council?

So far, there have been no answers. These questions are dismissed as “baseless”, or blamed on “handover issues.” The AGO report shows the questions are not baseless. And the AGO footnote shows there are no handover issues.

Unless the AHPETC thinks they can behave outside the law, they really need to start giving some answers.

AHPETC: What Sylvia Lim does not want Singaporeans to know ...

In the on-going saga over the likely misappropriation of government S&CC grants by AHPETC, one common refrain we hear from Ms Sylvia Lim and the Worker's Party is that the AGO Special Audit gave them a clean bill of health. The WP is telling their residents that if there is reasonable suspicion of any offence being committed, the CPIB/CAD would have been called in to investigate. So if CPIB and CAD have not stepped-in, this proves that AHPETC has done nothing wrong.

What Ms Sylvia Lim, the Worker's Party and AHPETC have not told their residents is that the AGO Special Audit did not NOT find any criminal wrong-doing as this was beyond the scope of the audit. What the AGO Special Audit did find was that the financial reports submitted by AHPETC are not reliable and not accurate. MND has now asked for the appointment of an Independent Auditor, who will be tasked to do a forensic audit, and the CPIB/CAD will be called in once an offence is found. This is precisely why AHPETC does not want the Courts to appoint an Independent Auditor

AHPETC: 6 Distortions by the Worker's Party

The court hearing to determine MND's request to appoint an independent auditor for AHPETC will be heard next week. In a desperate attempt to continue to hide the truth from the public, AHPETC has gone on the offensive to appoint their "own external accounting firm". This is no different from when they said they would sort the matter out 3 years ago and is designed to distort the truth and mislead Singaporeans.

Let us look at some of the other distortions that AHPETC and the Worker's Party will resort to ....

Distortion #1: Politically Motivated. This is absolutely not true. MND is an impartial statutory board charged with the responsibility to ensure that tax-payers' money, and in this case, S&CC grants are used for their intended purposes. MND's request for the appointment of an independent auditor was made in direct response to the Worker's Party's own appeal to MND to release S&CC grants which have been withheld pending assurances that tax-payers money would not be misused. MND is thus doing this to help AHPETC.

Distortion #2: The Special Audit Found Nothing Wrong with AHPETC's Accounts. Contrary to what the Woker's Party wants Singaporeans to believe, the special audit did not not find any misappropriations. What the special audit did find, which was the only scope it had, was that the financial reports submitted by AHPETC was not accurate and that the actual health of AHPETC could not be determined.

Distortion #3: MND is going-back on its word to give AHPETC till Jun and Dec to file clean accounts. If this is what AHPETC wants, then do not appeal for the release of S&CC grants. Remember, MND's actions are the direct result of AHPETC's request.

Distortion #4: AHPETC is already doing many things to "fix the problems", and that the application for an independent auditor is not necessary. Yes, it may be true that AHPETC is working hard to fix the problems with their accounts, we however cannot say definitively that AHPETC is actually working to fix the problems. Their past records show that they are not likley to keep their word.

Distortion #5: Legal process is costly, and that the bill has to be paid for by the residents of Aljunied. Let us not forget that that it was AHPETC's own actions that resulted in legal actions by MND. This is very similar to you taking money from a friend, not using it as intended, and then accusing your friend of making you pay legal costs when he seeks to recover the money owed to him. It is simply illogical. 

Distortion #6: Another set of auditors is going to sap AHPETC’s energy, and affect service to residents. Accurate book-keeping is part and parcel of any business or organization. If proper accounting systems are in place, submitting to an auditor is not time-consuming.

These are some of the distortions that SG Bumiputera predicts that AHPETC and the Worker's Party will use in the coming weeks. Let's see if we are correct ....

AGO Special Audit - AHPETC Responds .... finally!

SINGAPORE: The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) has appointed an external accounting firm to assist in cleaning up its earlier  accounts, the Town Council’s chairman Sylvia Lim announced on its website on Saturday (May 2).

The accounting firm will also "give advice on strengthening its internal controls and processes in financial management, and on internal audit matters", it added.

AHPETC also said it is "working hard" on completing its annual audits, "with a view to filing our audited FY 2013/14 accounts by 30 June 2015 and FY 2014/15 accounts by 31 August 2015".

Below is the statement in full:

INTERIM UPDATE ON FOLLOW-UPS ON AGO REPORT

"I hope this message finds you well.

"You would have noted media reports and Parliamentary debates concerning the Auditor-General’s Office’s (AGO) Report on its audit of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) released in February 2015. The AGO had found some lapses and weaknesses that needed to be addressed.

"You will soon be receiving a letter from us giving you details of some key points from the AGO Report and Parliamentary debate, and clarifying some misconceptions that have been circulated. Due to the importance of the subject, we have taken some time to prepare this letter.

"Meanwhile, in this short interim note, I wish to inform you of two major tasks that AHPETC has since been following up on. First, on 3 March 2015, we appointed an external accounting firm to assist AHPETC in cleaning up its earlier accounts and also to give advice on strengthening its internal controls and processes in financial management, and on internal audit matters. Secondly, we are working hard on completing our annual audits, with a view to filing our audited FY 2013/14 accounts by 30 June 2015 and FY 2014/15 accounts by 31 August 2015. These tasks are critical to complete.

"The past months have been challenging, but AHPETC remains undaunted.

"At the heart of it all, AHPETC’s Members of Parliament from the Workers’ Party are mindful of our duty to be accountable to you, the residents who have put us in office to serve. You have supported us, and we will do our best despite the challenges we face. Thank you for your concern and understanding."

Sylvia Lim

Chairman

Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council