GPC Deputy Chair To Raise CPIB Probe In Parliament

SINGAPORE: The deputy chairman of the GPC for Law and Home Affairs, Edwin Tong, has said he is likely to raise in Parliament the issue of the ongoing CPIB probe into two former senior public servants.

Parliament will sit on 14 February, ahead of Budget Day which falls on 17 February.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement on Wednesday that it arrested the then CNB director, Ng Boon Gay, on 19 December last year.

And on 4 January this year, the then SCDF commissioner, Peter Lim Sin Pang was taken in.

Both were nabbed under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

Both men are now out on bail and helping the CPIB in separate investigations.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that both Mr Ng and Mr Lim are helping with investigations by the CPIB on allegations of “serious personal misconduct”.

Mr Tong told Channel NewsAsia that he would ask the MHA why it felt it was inappropriate to disclose the arrests and investigations earlier.

Mr Tong also wants to know if the MHA is satisfied that its systems and processes are sufficiently rigorous, given that the persons who are the subject of these investigations occupied very senior positions.

Mr Lim and Mr Ng are said to have been in a close working relationship with a female executive at a company that supplied IT-related products and services to several government agencies.

Their cases are believed to be linked to tenders awarded to the company.

One media report said on Thursday an executive from ST Electronics – an arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering – is assisting with investigations.

The major IT provider had clinched a S$34 million contract from SCDF in 2009 to build a command and control system.

But ST Electronics has denied the allegations, saying that “none of (its) executives has been called up by the CPIB to assist with investigations.”

When asked about its tender process, the Ministry of Home Affairs said tenders above S$1 million are evaluated by a committee, which then submits its recommendation to a board for approval.

But corporate governance expert Mak Yuen Teen, who also chairs the tender committee of the National Kidney Foundation, said there are ways to get around the procedures, such as splitting purchases to avoid certain approval limits or writing tender specifications to give certain suppliers an edge.

In an email to Channel NewsAsia, Professor Mak said he understands that following the Singapore Land Authority’s S$12 million fraud case in 2010, “there’s been heightened awareness and audits by government departments, ministries and statutory boards”.

He said “it’s perhaps partly because of this that we are seeing the fraud and corruption being uncovered.”

He stressed the need for government agencies to undertake a proper review to manage their risk.

- CNA/ir

Channel News Asia