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No reason to curb town councillor powers of Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh: AHTC

2023-09-08 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) said on Tuesday that it sees no reason to bar two senior Workers’ Party (WP) leaders from discharging their functions and duties as elected AHTC town councillors.

In a letter to the Ministry of National Development (MND), AHTC said WP chairman Sylvia Lim has not been directly involved in its procurement and payment processes since 2020, while WP chief Pritam Singh sits on two town council committees dealing with tenders and contracts.

AHTC was responding to an Aug 22 letter from MND that sought information on Ms Lim and Mr Singh’s specific powers and duties over the town council’s payment and procurement processes, and what action AHTC intended to take, given the Court of Appeal’s findings in July over the long-running AHTC civil suit.

MND had given AHTC two weeks to reply. The ministry had also cancelled an order that restricted Ms Lim and former WP chief Low Thia Khiang’s powers over AHTC’s financial decisions following the Court of Appeal’s judgment that the town councillors did not owe fiduciary duties to AHTC.

But the ministry said it may consider further regulatory action to safeguard public monies, depending on AHTC’s response.

In his letter to MND on Tuesday, AHTC chairman Dennis Tan said members in all its committees make decisions collectively.

Each member has one vote, and in the event of a tied vote, the committee’s chairman has a casting vote. Hence, there is no risk of any person unilaterally making decisions or granting approvals, he said.

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AHTC’s tenders and contracts committee, which Mr Singh sits on, relies on a price quality method evaluation framework in its approval process that was recommended by appointed external consultants, Mr Tan added.

Members on this committee are required to declare any conflicts of interest for tender evaluations, and to recuse themselves from decision-making if there is any potential conflict of interest. This will be documented in the minutes of meetings, he added.

Both Ms Lim and Mr Singh are members of the estate and community liaison committee that “evaluates requests for approval for estate projects and cyclical maintenance purchases within a budgetary framework”, said AHTC.

Ms Lim also sits on AHTC’s audit committee, which oversees statutory audit findings and its governance framework, and has no role in its procurement and payment process.

In July, the Court of Appeal ruled that Ms Lim and Mr Low were negligent in certain areas, including AHTC’s payments process, and may still be liable for damages.

The court found that Ms Lim was responsible for a contract to electrical engineering firm Red-Power at rates that were four to seven times higher than those offered by AHTC’s then existing vendors Digo Corp and Terminal 9.

While Mr Singh was found not liable for negligence in AHTC’s payments process, the apex court said the WP chief, Ms Lim, Mr Low and other town councillors did not act in good faith in implementing a system of payment processes that led to the misuse of town council funds.