'Still no answers on dealings with agent'
Teo Ho Pin slams WP's silence on queries over $26m contracts, rates
The Straits Times, 17 May 2013
THE war of words surrounding the Workers' Party's dealings with its town council managing agent was turned up a notch yesterday with the coordinating chairman of People's Action Party town councils, Dr Teo Ho Pin, saying the matter raises "serious issues of financial probity and transparency".
At the heart of Dr Teo's concerns were the circumstances surrounding contracts worth some $26 million which the WP-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) had awarded to the managing agent FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), a company owned by WP supporters.
In a strongly worded Facebook post, Dr Teo posed several questions about the deals, including how the higher managing agent rates were in the public interest and whether the owners of FMSS were getting double salaries.
He said: "Ms Sylvia Lim (WP and AHTC chairman) needs to explain clearly why a WP-run town council gave more than $26 million of public funds in contracts to close associates.
"And why it paid management fees significantly higher than normal, and 20 per cent higher than its previous managing agent?"
In its response, WP said Dr Teo and National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan were trying to distract the public from the concerns WP had raised over the sale of PAP town council software to Action Information Management (AIM), a company owned by PAP.
It then challenged Mr Khaw, Dr Teo or anyone at the Ministry of National Development (MND) to make a report to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau or other relevant agencies if they "believe there was any wrongdoing in WP's management of the town council".
"We assure these agencies our full cooperation," WP said.
The exchange marks the fourth day of an argument that began in Parliament on Monday when Mr Khaw gave a ministerial statement on town councils.Yesterday, Dr Teo noted that Mr Khaw had revealed "troubling facts" about FMSS and asked Ms Lim how she would "characterise the FMSS transactions and if public interest had been protected".
"Ms Lim has not answered these queries," said Dr Teo.
He then laid out facts about FMSS that he said Ms Lim and the WP MPs have not disputed. The company, formed four days after the WP won Aljunied GRC in the 2011 General Election, is owned by a couple "who were clearly close and trusted supporters of the WP", said Dr Teo.
Mr Danny Loh and his wife, Ms How Weng Fan, had been assentor and proposer to the WP candidates who contested Ang Mo Kio GRC in the 2006 General Election, he said.
Mr Danny Loh and his wife, Ms How Weng Fan, had been assentor and proposer to the WP candidates who contested Ang Mo Kio GRC in the 2006 General Election, he said.
Ms How was also a former employee of the WP's Hougang Town Council, which was merged with Aljunied GRC after the WP's victory there in 2011. Mr Loh is now the secretary of AHTC while Ms How is the general manager/deputy secretary.
The company was awarded three separate contracts: The first, in 2011, was worth $5.2 million and was to manage the town for a year. This was followed by two three-year deals worth $16.8 million and $3.9 million.
Dr Teo also took issue with FMSS' managing agent rates that he said were higher than those in comparable PAP wards. The numbers had been the key sticking point between WP and the MND over the past three days.
He then raised what he said were "three key questions of public interest": First, if AHTC had secured the best possible deal when it awarded the first contract to FMSS in 2011 without a tender.
Second, if AHTC had exercised due diligence in awarding two contracts worth $21 million to FMSS a year later.
And third, if AHTC had protected the interests of Aljunied and Hougang residents.
Dr Teo also asked if Mr Loh and Ms How draw salaries as employees of AHTC, adding: "As Mr Loh and Ms How do business with the TC (town council) through FMSS which they own and profit - do they get paid twice?"
He questioned the need to form FMSS - a for-profit firm - just days after the general election.
While Ms Lim had cited urgency as the chief consideration, he suggested that it would have been easier for AHTC to employ Ms How directly, as was done in WP's former Hougang Town Council.
Dr Teo said: "These questions raise serious issues of financial probity and transparency. The WP MPs in AHTC owe it to the residents of Aljunied and Hougang, as well as Singaporeans in general, to give full answers to them."
The WP responded by saying that many of Dr Teo's allegations had already been addressed in Parliament.
It added that the reason it chose to hire a managing agent rather than hire staff directly should be clear as "almost all PAP town councils have chosen to appoint managing agents as well".
Dr Teo later issued a statement saying that his questions remain unanswered: "Why is Ms Lim reluctant to answer questions? What is she afraid of?"
WHY THE RETICENCE?
I asked serious questions about the financial probity of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, which Ms Sylvia Lim chairs. Why did WP award multi-million-dollar contracts to its close associates and supporters? No answer. Are the secretary and deputy secretary/general manager, cum owners of FMSS, paid twice? No answer.
Ms Lim has not answered a single question I asked. When questions were raised about AIM, I gave a full public explanation and answered all the questions by the MND review team. Parliament held a full debate on the matter and the Minister for National Development answered all the MPs' questions, including from Workers' Party MPs.
Why is Ms Lim reluctant to answer questions? What is she afraid of?
Teo Ho Pin and Sylvia Lim face off on agent rates
The Straits Times, 17 May 2013
The Straits Times, 17 May 2013
DR TEO Ho Pin, coordinating chairman of the People's Action Party (PAP) town councils, yesterday entered the fray on the dispute over the rates paid to the managing agent of the Workers' Party-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC).
He criticised the Workers' Party (WP) for leaving out commercial units in its initial calculations.
He also charged that the party's revised sums meant either that there is $1 million not accounted for, or the managing agent (MA) rates for AHTC will rise sharply each year.
The Ministry of National Development (MND) had similarly suggested on Wednesday that there had been a discrepancy of $1 million between the number AHTC reported to it and the figures used by WP in calculating managing agent rates.
Last night, WP refuted the "erroneous assertion" that $1 million was missing, saying the difference was because the contract involved staggered price increases.
It was a point that Dr Teo, in his Facebook post, said would spell "bad news for residents".
"It means simply that their current MA rate, which is already high, will rise even higher next year," he said. By his calculations, from $7.58 in FY2012, it would hit $8 this year and $8.50 next year.
The argument, which began in Parliament on Monday, centres on disagreements over how to calculate the rates AHTC is paying its managing agent FM Solutions and Services (FMSS).
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan had said that in FY2011, FMSS' rates were 20 per cent higher than those of CPG Facilities Management, the managing agent of the PAP-run Aljunied Town Council, in FY2010.
He questioned if this was in the public interest given that FMSS was owned by WP supporters.
He added that in FY2012, FMSS' rate was over 50 per cent higher than the rate charged by CPG for Tampines Town Council.
This prompted a to-and-fro between WP and MND in the following days, with both sides disagreeing on the actual numbers.
Yesterday, Dr Teo took issue with WP and AHTC chairman Sylvia Lim's responses since Monday.
Yesterday, Dr Teo took issue with WP and AHTC chairman Sylvia Lim's responses since Monday.
In Parliament, Ms Lim said FMSS' higher price in FY2011 compared to CPG in FY2010 could be due to inflation, but Dr Teo said yesterday: "Really? Can inflation explain the huge difference in rates with Tampines Town Council?"
On Tuesday, Ms Lim issued a statement citing a rate for FMSS in FY2012 that was $1 less than the one given by MND. She also asked how CPG could charge a lower rate in Tampines in FY2012 than in Aljunied in FY2010, and if the Tampines example was an "outlier".
Dr Teo said that by citing only residential units, Ms Lim's figures were "erroneous and misleading".
Then on Wednesday, Ms Lim presented more figures to show that even when using MND's method, FMSS' rates were still lower than those given by the ministry.
MND responded by saying that AHTC declared to the Housing Board that FMSS' three-year contract was worth about $16.8 million. Divided by three years and the 57,899 units managed by AHTC, this gave a monthly rate of $8.04 per unit.
However, Ms Lim's rate - $7.58 per unit - would result in about $15.8 million if worked backwards. Ms Lim's explanation was that the contract involves staggered price increases.
In a statement last night, Ms Lim stood by the figures she had given. She confirmed that the total price of the FMSS contract she declared to HDB was correct at $16.75 million. But MND had "unjustifiably suggested that $1 million was missing".
She said that as the contract provided for staggered pricing, the total amount could not be derived by multiplying FY2012's rate by three. She did not, however, give the rates for this year and next.
"There is no contradiction in MA rates nor missing money as MND suggests," she said.
She noted in another statement yesterday that her question on whether the Tampines rate is an outlier has not been answered.
Dr Teo, in his response to WP last night, repeated his calculations showing that FMSS' managing agent rates would rise, adding: "In fact by 2014, their managing agent rate will be about $8.50 or 70 per cent higher than Tampines TC's rate.
MND, WP continue debate on managing agent rates
TODAY, 16 May 2013
The dispute between the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Workers’ Party (WP) over the calculation of Managing Agent (MA) rates at the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) continued yesterday, as the ministry took issue with the opposition party’s accounting.
TODAY, 16 May 2013
The dispute between the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Workers’ Party (WP) over the calculation of Managing Agent (MA) rates at the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) continued yesterday, as the ministry took issue with the opposition party’s accounting.
The MND’s stance was in response to the WP, which provided new figures — different from those provided earlier — while saying that it “continue(s) to be puzzled” by the ministry’s assertions.
The ministry pointed out that, using the new figures provided by the WP, there would be a shortfall of “nearly S$1 million”— compared to the value of the contract awarded to its MA.
On Tuesday, the ministry had said the WP’s method of calculating the MA rate per unit gave an “incomplete picture”, after the WP explained how its MA rates were equivalent to those of the previous managing agent under the People’s Action Party, and not 20 per cent more as asserted by National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament.
The WP said yesterday that even by adopting the ministry’s methodology of using both residential and commercial units, the difference in rates should be 4.55 per cent, and not 20 per cent. By using the MND’s method, the MA rate charged by the town council would be S$7.58 for last year, slightly higher than the S$7.25 per unit the former agent would have charged had it continued to manage the town council in the same year.
An MND spokesperson noted in response that Ms Lim “had asked for MND’s method of computation” of the MA rate per unit for AHTC. “MND, therefore, shared this (on Tuesday). The method is consistently applied to all town councils, based on data submitted by the town councils to HDB,” she said. The spokesperson added: “Based on such declared data, the AHTC MA contract is S$16,752,314 for the three-year contract, or S$465,342 per month. This amount divided by the number of residential and commercial property units (57,899) managed by AHTC works out to S$8.04 per unit per month.”
“This amount (S$8.04) is higher than the rate for Aljunied Town Council (S$6.51) in the past and even higher when compared to the FY2012 MA rate for Tampines Town Council (S$4.99) which is of a similar size. All the rates were computed based on the same method, based on the data declared.”
The spokesperson highlighted that the WP had said on Tuesday that its FY 2012 MA per unit rate was S$7.01. But the figure was amended to S$7.58 yesterday.
WP and ministry lock horns over managing agent rates
By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 15 May 2013
THE Workers' Party (WP) yesterday locked horns with the Ministry of National Development (MND) over the rates it paid its managing agent in Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC). WP disputed the figures cited by National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday, citing charges that were $1 less.
By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 15 May 2013
THE Workers' Party (WP) yesterday locked horns with the Ministry of National Development (MND) over the rates it paid its managing agent in Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC). WP disputed the figures cited by National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday, citing charges that were $1 less.
The difference stems from WP leaving out commercial units in its sums. MND said last night that the WP numbers give an "incomplete picture" as town councils collect service and conservancy charges from both residential and commercial properties.
For FY2012, WP and AHTC chairman Sylvia Lim said the the managing agent, FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), charged $7.01 per residential unit a month, as opposed to $8.04 per unit cited by Mr Khaw on Monday.
On Monday, Mr Khaw said FMSS charged 20 per cent more in managing agent rates for FY2011 compared to what CPG charged the year before. He asked if this was in the public interest, noting that FMSS was owned by WP supporters. Ms Lim also justified the higher rates for FMSS as the contract packed in more. She said they covered services and costs not provided by the previous administration. These include the cost of more lifts due to lift upgrading, more town council offices, and more technical staff. The rates also built in "reasonable increases" for inflation and staff wages.
Ms Lim also explained yesterday that FMSS' rate for FY2011 had two components as the town council had expanded to cover both Aljunied GRC and Hougang after the general election, running six wards instead of five under the PAP.
Ms Lim yesterday also took issue with Mr Khaw's comparison between AHTC and Tampines Town Council. Mr Khaw had said the managing agent fees in Tampines were $4.99 per unit in FY2012 or 50 per cent less than for AHTC.
Ms Lim said the $4.99 charged by CPG in Tampines was lower than the $6.51 the same company charged PAP's Aljunied Town Council in FY2010. Noting that Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council had been charged $5.75 per residential unit in 2007, she suggested that Tampines was an "outlier".
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