AHPETC accounts ‘a house in danger of collapsing’, says Tharman
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The accounts of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) were today (Aug 17) likened to a house “in danger of collapsing” by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Parliament, when he was asked about the difference between the audit conducted by the Auditor-General’s Office on public agencies as compared with the one on APHETC.
Responding to a question from Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Tharman said that notwithstanding the lapses, the Government’s financial statements are still found to be “reliable and public funds are properly accounted for”.
Using the analogy of houses, he said that apart from being “unsafe and unsound”, there are also “many individual defects and problems” with AHPETC’s house. In contrast, the Government’s house is safe even though some repairs are needed in specific areas.
Mr Tharman also said there is a lack of transparency in AHPETC’s accounts. “Our house is safe, no questions of whether public monies are fully accounted for. There are some repairs needed in the house in specific areas but everyone can be confident that the house is safe,” said Mr Tharman. “There is also full visibility, the curtains are undrawn ... That is the fundamental difference.”
Speaking to reporters at her Meet the People session later, Ms Lim responded to Mr Tharman’s characterisation of AHPETC, saying that it was a “gross exaggeration”. “It is a house that is in need of some repairs and we have already make quite a number of improvements as our latest audited accounts — which we filed on June 30 — will show,” she said, noting that the town council has tightened financial and accounting procedures. “So, it is an ongoing process. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
In Parliament, Mr Tharman and Ms Lim had a protracted exchange over the matter. Ms Lim questioned if Mr Tharman was aware that the latest audit on AHPETC for financial year 2013/2014 found “only three” disclaimers that remain unresolved, out of the 13 that were previously raised.
She added that some of the outstanding areas flagged by the auditor were due to issues that were carried over from previous financial years, and the town council has not received Service & Conservancy Charges operating grants for FY2014/2015.
In response, Mr Tharman said: “That is like (saying) except for the fact that the pillars of my house are in serious danger of collapsing... everything is fine.”
Ms Lim pointed out that in audit of AHPETC for FY13/14, the auditor observed that “except for certain specific issues”, the town council has complied with the Town Councils Act in terms of “keeping proper accounts and books”.
Mr Tharman reiterated that that there are fundamental problems with AHPETC’s accounts, citing issues such as failure to transfer monies to the sinking fund which is “really putting the house at risk”. He added these are issues are not something to be “white-washed” and not simply settled with a “new coat of paint on the front wall”.
In its latest annual audit released last month, the AGO had flagged four areas of concerns: The administration of grants, tendering and management of revenue contracts, management of variations in contracts, and related-party transactions.
Several agencies were rapped for their lapses including several ministries, the People’s Association and the National Library Board (NLB). In NLB’s case, the police are investigating “possible wrongdoings” related to the procurement of electronic resources.
Hougang MP Png Eng Huat asked how Mr Tharman had concluded that there were no repeat lapses by public agencies as the batch of agencies selected for audit by the AGO are not the same every year.
In response, Mr Tharman said that while he is not able to say “every fault and lapse has never happened before”, the Government tracks follow-up actions by the agencies. He noted that except for one audit finding - concerning an agency’s procurement of event management services - all the other audit findings in this year’s AGO report were not repeat lapses.
Stressing that public agencies take the lapses cited by AGO seriously and ensures improvements are made promptly, Mr Tharman said that any AGO audit would be expected to turn up some lapses. “If nothing was found, I would be concerned about the independence and rigour of AGO’s audits,” he said.
Non-Constituency MP Lina Chiam also raised the issue of proper accountability for public resources by the public sector in a motion for adjournment. The most fundamental issue at hand is the lack of accountability by respective Government ministries in supervising how taxpayers’ monies have been “used and misused”, she said. This calls into question the competence of the ministries and soundness of mechanisms to prevent such lapses, said Mrs Chiam. She also questioned if public interest has been compromised, calling for regular training of procurement officers and suggesting centralised procurement by one agency.
In response, Senior Minister of State for Finance Josephine Teo reiterated that lapses are taken seriously and investigated. Recurrent lapses are the exception and not the norm. She added that the public sector has a Procurement Competency Framework that was enhanced recently. Last year, a procurement specialist track was launched to provide clear career development pathways to officers. Lower-value purchases of goods and services are decentralised for efficiency but are nevertheless guided by rules and subject to regular audits, she said.
