The People's Association must be a very exciting organisation to work in. It seems like there are new discoveries every year by the Auditor General's Office (AGO). Last year, there were several serious discrepancies discovered. This year, the AGO has again discovered several lapses and possible irregularities related to the People's Association's management.
The PA had engaged contractors to carry
out minor building works at OTH and a managing agent to manage the
facilities and supervise the contractors.
The AGO checked only a
sample of payments totalling $1.27 million made between April 2018 and
March 2020 and found possible irregularities in the supporting documents
for 34 of the 36 payments. What if the AGO had checked ALL the
thousands of payments? I think someone will faint on the spot.
The
irregularities included possible falsification of quotations,
alteration of hard-copy payment supporting documents and the creation
and backdating of documents to give the false impression that proper
processes had been followed.
"As the lapses relate to serious
allegations involving falsification of documents, including in relation
to claims by external parties, PA has lodged a police report and
investigations are ongoing," the PA said, adding that it had suspended
the staff involved pending the outcome of the investigation.
The
PA also said it would set up a task force led by senior officers to
strengthen processes in procurement, contract and facility management,
raise staff capabilities, and improve oversight of contractors and
managing agents.
It will also appoint an external consultant to
conduct a thorough review of its governance system and oversight
functions related to contract management of all development projects,
the PA added.
The external consultant will be given a "broad
mandate" to review such matters and provide recommendations to
strengthen PA's oversight of contract management.
Other issues
flagged by the AGO include lapses in the computation of adjustments for
price fluctuations for the main construction contract at OTH and
weaknesses in the management and oversight of contract variations for
the main construction contracts for both OTH and HBB.
This means
PA could have overpaid its contractors by an estimated $2 million for
building materials for OTH, such as concrete and steel reinforcements.
The
AGO also checked 465 contract variations amounting to $26.48 million
and found lapses in 252 or 54.2 per cent of them. Contract variations
are mutually agreed changes to the terms of contracts that are already
in effect.
No evidence of approval was found for 109 contract
variations, while approvals for 142 of them were obtained only one month
to 5½ years after works had commenced or were already completed. There
were also other issues such as the use of incorrect rates, resulting in
over- and underpayments.
AGO also found wastage of $5.39m of public funds at HPB over excess fitness trackers.
AGO finds heritage items improperly deleted from NHB records, tender bids not evaluated.
But
the PA failed to ensure this requirement was made explicit in the
tenancy agreement. This resulted in the tenant charging fees that were
23 per cent higher than the cap specified for the first two years of its
operation.
With a budget of $1 billion, or slightly less, per year, the money seems to be easy come easy go?
Every
year, the AGO is bound to discover several lapses, irregularities,
discrepancies or possible frauds in almost all the Ministries, Statutory
Boards or other government agencies. This cannot go on and on for
years. The government is urged to fix the root causes of such
embarrassing and preventable lapses.
SSO
15 comments:
KNN! The funny thing is that the primary root cause is at the very top of the government. So, who dares to fix it?
President Harimau Yakult?
That brings me to the irregularities that the Aljunied Hougang Town council were persecuted for, and loud voices were heard asking for the MPs resignation. Why are the PA people not given the same honour of facing persecution and how many top leaders have taken responsibility and resigned? The loss of money in PA is also public money. No?
If it is a matter of kicking the can further down the road, the problem of irregularities and misuse of funds at the PA will continue until eternity and the perpetrators die of old age. Every year, the same mantra of AGO discovery, assurances that action will be taken, but nothing changes.
I think if the old man had been around, heads would have rolled long long ago.
Singapore sorely miss the wisdom and guidance of Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP old guards.
LKY era - From 3rd world to 1st world
GCT era - From 1st world to 2nd world
LHL era - From 2nd world to 3rd world
4G era - From 3rd world to Sodom
After going thru so many obstables and obtained their diplomas and degrees, only best jobs that the Papies recommended are hawkers and grab drivers or delivery personel.
Blame the heartlanders who keep them in power.
Three years ago, ESM Goh Chok Tong caused told his audience at the NTUC Centre that Ministers were not be paid enough, despite their political salaries that were the highest in the world.
He argued that if political salaries were to be cut further, then Singapore would only attract “very, very mediocre who can’t even earn a million dollars outside” to be our Ministers.
He asked: “Is it good for you, or is it worse for us in the end?”
We know who the "you" he was referring to.
But who was the "us" that he was referring to?
The PA is like the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is everywhere, in each and every district, and it repeats the same problems again and again, and causes hardship to the people again and again.
"River Valley High’s advisory committee, parent-teacher association, parents and alumni have also rallied around the school," said Mr Chan Chun Sing, who was addressing questions about the River Valley High School murder incident from at least 10 Members of Parliament.
“All these speak volumes of the compassion and strength of the River Valley High School community.”
However, all that also speak volumes about the government, especially the ministry of education and Mr Chan himself.
Guess what vaccine the Local Thais were depending on......
Phuket tourism experiment risks suspension as Covid cases surge
The resort island reported 125 new Covid-19 cases during the week ending July 27, higher than the government-set threshold of 90 weekly cases that could trigger a temporary suspension of the program. In response, local authorities closed public schools and shopping malls and banned gatherings of more than 100 people from Tuesday to stem the virus from spreading further.
The few posts above are irrelevant and posted with malicious intent.
Two Indian nationals jailed for submitting false educational qualifications in work pass applications, permanently banned from working in Singapore.
19 others have been permanently barred from future employment in Singapore, one waiting to appear in court and another is still under investigation.
I am sure that this is only the tiny tip of the hidden under water huge iceberg.
The AGO should investigate into MOM to uncover any violation of procedures, discrepancies, irregularities, cover-ups, and falsification of documents, too.
Heng ah, with a few hundred thousands here, only two cases found. Does it mean the rest use genuine certificates? Does it mean no need to check anymore?
What happens if foreigners submit fake certificates and these were checked by foreigners employed by MOM?
MOM cannot be so stupid right, to leave such a big hole and guarded by foreigners to guard against foreigners sneaking in?
All the foreigners, applying to come in and employed by MOM are very honest and commit very few crimes here. Lovely people. So nice and so talented.
Honestly, do they check? Who is responsible? When caught there is always the argument that employers have themselves to do due deligence. Would employers care, so long as they get cheaper workers to boost their bottom line. And as usual, the powers that be will have their hands washed clean and sanitised.
And they live happily together ever after, like the PA. I like fairy tales.
MOM, got employ foreigner meh? I thought garment job must be Singaporean.
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