What the AGO didn't tell you about government accounts

So the WP supporters have pointed out that the AGO Audit Report released recently, shows that the PAP govt is being hypocritical and that these issues about AHPETC / AHTC accounts is simply a case of the pot calling the kettle black / political assassination.

hello WP supporters... are you all really that stupid?

Yes, there were some very embarrassing lapses and problems that the AGO found.

(Food for thought - if the AGO was indeed manipulated and controlled by the PAP govt as claimed by some quarters, then why would the AGO even bother to release their report?)

But do you know what is the ONE critical and significant difference that sets the problems that the AGO found from the AHPETC / AHTC problems?

IT IS THE FACT THAT WITH THE AHPETC / AHTC ACCOUNTS, NO ONE CAN SAY FOR CERTAIN WHERE ALL THE RESIDENTS' MONEY HAVE GONE.

In the govt's case, for each and every problem, the AGO knew exactly where the money went, and the monies could all be accounted for.

However, on the other hand, can anyone say for certain where the AHPETC / AHTC money went and what it was used for?

Pic : itahanyouverylongalready

So it is really bullshit logic when WP supporters attempt to use the AGO report to trivialise the serious problems of AHPETC accounts mess.

And here's the kicker - WP did not even attempt or bother to explain how and why were the Accounts in such a mess.  All Pritam Singh said was that the town council "accepts all the recommendations in full".

Please lah.. if the KPMG report was on a PAP Town Council instead, would you be able to accept this sad state of affairs without any explanation?

Would you not be out-raged and be demanding for the out-right resignation of the MP and the people who are running the Town Council?

And yet, all we see from the anti-govt / anti-establishment websites, is an almost eerie silence on the KPMG Report on AHPETC / AHTC, except for when the AGO report was released and used as an excuse by WP supporters.

ITahanYouVeryLongAlready summarized what other factors sets apart the govt problems found by the AGO and the AHPETC / AHTC mess.


ITahanYouVeryLongAlready

 "Some people are saying “AGO also found problems in government bodies, why is the government going on about AHTC?” Here are 4 serious problems auditors found in AHTC, but not in government bodies…

1. Lapses left for more than a year
2. Hiding of accounts
3. Payments to friends
4. Widespread lack of integrity

Read the full post here.

Read more here:

KPMG's Aljunied-Hougang Town Council Report on Progress (20 July 2016)

Backup source: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Vd2Rny_eXLRVlGRk93amNzaEE

CNA: KPMG report on AHTC paints 'devastating account' of town council mismanagement: Shanmugam (23 July 2016)

CNA: KPMG findings on AHTC lapses of 'grave concern': HDB (21 Jul 2016)

OnwardSingapore: Workers' Party Loves Pig's Breakfast

Workers' Party In Review: The Damning Report from KPMG: 4th Progress Report 

Town Council "Humor"

Yes, it's true. During WP's Hougang rally for GE2015, WP Chief Low Thia Khiang argued that as AHPETC was not being investigated by the CPIB, therefore it was a sign that there was no wrongdoing.  Source: ST

Such awesome logic right?? I wonder what's LTK's reaction was to the latest Progress Report from KPMG.

Is LTK shocked by the KPMG Report? Is he horrified? Or is he simply glad that CPIB hasn't called up himself or any of his MPs... yet?

And thanks to KPMG, we can now also understand why Pritam Singh kept on refusing to give a direct answer to the questions on AHPETC in Parliament in Feb 2015. 

And Pritam's reason for not answering to the highest authority in our system of government?

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC): I fully believe when I do my house visits this Saturday, some of these questions (on AHPETC's lapses) will come up. Likewise, they will come up for my fellow WP MPs. We will answer all of them. Why? Because of a duty to the residents. We will answer to them. Well, minister (Shanmugam), if you were a resident, I'll answer your question. Thank you.  Source: ST

There you have it. Pritam thinks that Parliament's authority counts for shit, and he doesn't have to answer any questions he doesn't like.

Thanks yet again to the latest KPMG Progress report, we now totally understand why no one, including AHPETC's previous TC Managing Agent, wanted to bid for the job. They all probably "knew" or guessed there be a ton of shit to clean up.

Actually, the latest KPMG Report explains a lot of why WP / AHPETC / AHTC did what they did since the saga started.

We know that in Jan 2016, WP / AHPETC / AHTC had tried all means and methods to limit the scope of what the Independent Accountants could do and check upon, including going to Court to challenge MND.

Why the wayang, WP? Where's your mantra of being "Accountable" and "Transparent"?

It is obvious now that WP had tried to limit the scope of the Independent Accountants, probably so that their shoddy and potentially illegal / fraudulent accounting practices would not be found and made public.

And when WP fail to limit what the Independent Accountants could do and check upon, WP tried to appoint amateurs  parties which are not qualified to conduct regulatory audit, as the Independent Accountants instead.

WP had probably hoped that by engaging unqualified (for regulatory audit) parties as the Independent Accountants, they could maybe hook-wink the Accountants or even hide the sorry state of affairs from the public.

In the end, BOTH of the WP nominated firms Business Assurance and MRI Moores, withdrew 
from being considered as AHTC's nominated accountants, without providing for any substantial reasons.

Obviously, the Courts saw through WP's ploy to appoint unqualified parties.

In his closing judgment, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon noted that “the task to be undertaken by the accountants appointed should not be underestimated” and that “members of the team of the third nomination do not have licenses of public accountants”.

“But this being a matter of public interest, and public funds should not be delayed further, and a process which has been without success cannot continue indefinitely... the concern should be to appoint an accountant who manifestly has the ability, experience and resources to complete the task.”

Concluded CJ Menon: “We direct the town council to appoint a team of qualified accountants from one of the ‘Big 4’ accounting firms – namely Pricewaterhousecoopers, Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young – within two weeks, in order to undertake the identified tasks.”

And so in a nutshell, here we are today, with the latest KPMG Progress report that simply could not be more horrifying in its findings of WP / AHPETC / AHTC's sheer incompetence in managing the Town Council.

I'll bet my last dollar that this is not the end yet. More skeletons will be unearthed, and a time of reckoning and accounting for those responsible for this mess will be due soon.

Read more here.

Yes, We are a Little Red Dot.

So recently Indonesia's politicians have launched yet another tiresome tirade about Singapore's small size and how we always "take advantage" of them...blah blah blah.

It seems to me, that whenever the Indonesian politicians implement any policy / scheme which is somehow has something remotely to do with Singapore, and it is likely to be doomed to failure, they will always "hedge" their positions by claiming that the policy / scheme is being opposed / hindered / sabo'ed by Singapore, simply because it seems that when it comes to all things Indonesia, that's what Singapore does.

I guess Singapore is a convenient scapegoat to pin the blame if things don't go according to their plans. And that all their failures in policy and governance have got nothing to do with their own incompetence and wide-spread corruption.

This time , their latest "outrage" centers around how Singapore is supposedly "offering incentives" to hinder their Tax Amnesty Programme. And the Indo politicians seem to be reacting to rumors being reported by the Indo media. You can read about all these in the links below.

Suffice to say, Singapore Government has categorically refuted those accusations.

However what is note-worthy is Minister Shanmugam’s smack-down on the remarks made by the Indo Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. He said, “Just let it be, I am not afraid of Singapore which is just a small country like that”.

Well, really? Then why do you feel the need to specifically mention it? sheesh...

And here’s what Minister Shanmugam had to say about that.

Via Facebook

Yeah.. you go Min. Shanmugam!

Read more here:

THOUGHTS OF REAL SINGAPOREANS - Little red dot, so what??

Straits Times - No tax cut or policy change in response to Indonesia's tax amnesty: Singapore

TODAY - Singapore denies cutting tax rates to 'thwart' Indonesia's tax amnesty programme

Global Indonesian Voices - Bring the Money Back and You Shall be Forgiven

AsianNewsNetwork - Indonesia's tax amnesty brouhaha gets to Singapore

Straits Times - Indonesia plans tax amnesty to lure money back from Singapore

Min K Shanmugam wacks WP chalat chalat

Pic: SNM

KPMG’s damning Report on AHTC, millions not properly accounted for, KPMG questions integrity and ethics of AHTC

By Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, via Facebook Post 23 Jul.


The latest monthly progress report on Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) issued by KPMG paints a devastating account of the Workers’ Party’s mis-management of its town council. It is a damning litany of highly irregular and suspicious financial practices, poor governance structures and extensive leadership failures.

KPMG, AHTC’s own independent accountants, has uncovered even more faults than the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) and AHTC’s statutory auditors. AGO and AHTC’s statutory auditors found 115 failures. KPMG uncovered another 70 – making a total of 185 failures. Since the AGO audit, the situation has not gotten better. It has gotten far worse.

KPMG says:

• AHTC’s “control failures,” were “pervasive, cutting across the key areas of governance, financial control, financial reporting, procurement and records management over the course of five years.” 

• There was no “culture of compliance to controls”. 

• “There was no ….…enforcement of integrity and ethical values,”

KPMG’s Report underlines the key issue:

AHTC’s leadership has neither upheld nor enforced integrity and ethical values. The rot is at the top. This should come as no surprise. The High Court and the Court of Appeal have already criticised Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Pritam Singh for suppressing the truth (designed to mislead) both in Parliament and in Court. To them, the truth is a tradable commodity. I will say more about this in another post.

KPMG also found that AHTC’s lapses were not isolated, but rather “pervasive” and “systemic”:

“There is an issue larger than the sum of individual lapses at AHTC”, it says, “a failure in the control environment”, which “includes the governance and management functions and the attitudes, awareness and actions of those charged with governance and management”.

KPMG said that AHTC used highly irregular shortcuts to process millions of dollars in payments to related parties, and “suppliers”. It used “dummy” vendor codes for payments, without specifying who the suppliers were. These practices could have concealed duplicate or fraudulent payments. Obviously, WP’s leadership thought they could play Aljunied residents – and Singaporeans -- for dummies.

Despite auditors flagging concerns over four years – including the AGO itself – AHTC’s Finance & Investment Committee and Audit Committee were not bothered. They didn’t even meet regularly to deal with the issues.

The attitude of AHTC in dealing with its severe problems is quite telling. In response to KPMG’s report, Mr Pritam Singh breezily says: “AHTC accepts all the recommendations in full”.

That’s it. He seems to think that suffices. No need for apologies, explanations, clarifications.

He does not explain why AHTC indulged in “highly irregular” practices. He does not explain why there was “failure in (its) control environment”. He doesn’t apologise for the mess, nor account for the “attitudes, awareness and actions of those charged with governance and management” – i.e., AHTC’s political leadership, WP’s six MPs. Is he himself (having already misled the Court of Appeal) in a position to enforce ethical values?

Mr Singh’s attitude is consistent with what KPMG in essence said about them: That AHTC’s management has not acted responsibly in dealing with its failings. Where is their sense of responsibility to put things right? Where is their sense of duty, honour and integrity?
They went to court to oppose, tooth and nail, the appointment of an independent accountant. We know now why: They don’t want any light shone into their dark corners, of which there are many. This is another subject I will deal with in another post.

Mr Singh and his colleagues can’t keep Singaporeans in the dark so easily.

• Many of the problems KPMG identified deal with payments -- running into millions of dollars -- which have already been made. What is Mr Singh and his colleagues going to do about them? 

• Who received the payments and for what purpose? How many of them were genuine? Who amongst your friends benefitted? Why did you use dummy codes for payments – i.e. who really received the payments? 

• For four years, your auditors have been asking for supporting documents. Are you finally going to produce them, or admit that they do not exist?

We are still at the early stages in this painful saga. So far KPMG has only looked at the control environment and accounting systems and so on. The Court of Appeal had also directed that the accountants to look into the actual payments that AHTC has made over the years, identify their lawfulness, and where necessary, take steps to recover the payments.

Much work remains to be done. More facts will emerge, facts which will show what actually happened to the monies, and what the WP has been up to in Aljunied, Hougang, and for two years Punggol East.

DTCL: Emphasis in article is mine.

Read more here:

KPMG's Aljunied-Hougang Town Council Report on Progress (20 July 2016)

Backup source: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Vd2Rny_eXLRVlGRk93amNzaEE

CNA: KPMG report on AHTC paints 'devastating account' of town council mismanagement: Shanmugam (23 July 2016)

CNA: KPMG findings on AHTC lapses of 'grave concern': HDB (21 Jul 2016)

OnwardSingapore: Workers' Party Loves Pig's Breakfast

Workers' Party In Review: The Damning Report from KPMG: 4th Progress Report 

Gotta Catch 'Em All

What is an Internal Control?

"... Internal Control in an entity is implemented and maintained to address business risks that threaten the achievement  of any of the entity’s objectives; internal  controls  are  important  because  they  are  part  of  management’s  arrangements  to  ensure  that  its  objectives  are  met  and  its  strategies  are  effective.  Each of the Control  Failures  undermines  AHTC’s  efforts  to  attain  its  objective  to  provide  the  highest level service standards to its residents. ..."

Extract from KPMG'sAljunied-Hougang Town Council Report on Progress (20 July 2016), Page 2,Section 2.2.1

During the WP's GE2015 Hougang rally on 2 Sept 2015, Sylvia Lim had boldly declared that "...AHPETC has managed to turn things around...".

Have "things" really been "turned around"?

Sylvia Lim needs to explain her 2015 statement in contrast to what has been stated in the latest KPMG report for July 2016.

If things have indeed been turned around, then why are the Auditors stating that not only has the progress of remedying the Control Failures been slow, they have found a further 70 more control failures?

Clearly, someone is plainly lying to mislead.

Pic: Fabrications About The PAP

KPMG releases its latest Horror story installment of the AHPETC saga

Have you read the latest true-life Horror story  Audit Progress Report from KPMG?

If you haven't, you really should. It's a 43-page story about how things can go horribly wrong at a public institution when the people-in-charge don't care about public monies and simply do as they please.


But be warned: The contents are shocking and graphically explicit about what shoddy accounting practices have been used to manage public monies. It may cause nightmares, especially if you are a AHTC resident, an accountant, a Singapore Citizen or a business-owner.


Here's the original download - absolutely free of charge.

AHTC Website: KPMG's Aljunied-Hougang Town Council Report on Progress (20 July 2016)

Backup source: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Vd2Rny_eXLRVlGRk93amNzaEE


If you don't quite have the time to read the report, here are some excellent TLDR choices.

Workers' Party In Review (Recommended)

Pic: Singapore Matters

".... For as long as anyone can remember, the accounts at Workers' Party-run town council has been in a mess. But now we discover that it is in fact in a much bigger mess that we thought based on the latest KPMG report. 

AND YET, Pritam Singh is still NOW telling people that his town council will award the contract for a new Town Council Accounting System "shortly". 

Can you imagine that?! They still have not put in place a credible accounting system!! They didn't get down to work after the special audit by AGO? 

Where is their accountability and sense of responsibility? And honesty?

"PERVASIVE" was the word KPMG used to describe the lapses.

In addition to the 115 control failures identified by the special audit carried out by AGO, KPMG has identified another 70 control failures! 

And KPMG concluded that unless its town councillors and senior management “set the right tone at the top”, and clearly define the standard of competence and accountability it expects from employees, the lapses could not be fully remedied. 

It starts with the leadership at the top.  .... " 

Continue reading here : The Damning Report from KPMG: 4th Progress Report 

Channel News Asia

"...  In its July report, KPMG said it uncovered "pervasive" control failures, "cutting across the key areas of governance, financial control, financial reporting, procurement and records management over the course of five years. It added that the control failures show "a failure in the control environment".  

An organisation's control environment is the "foundation for all other components of internal control, providing discipline and structure", the accounting firm said.  

In its assessment, KPMG found that AHTC's control environment failed in six areas - communication and enforcement of integrity and ethical values; commitment to competence; participation by Town Councillors; management philosophy and operating style; assignment of authority and responsibility; as well as human resource policies and practices. ..." 

Continue reading here: KPMG findings on AHTC lapses of 'grave concern': HDB

Goh Meng Seng
(Ex-WP member, former NSP Gen-Sec, Founder and Gen-Sec of People's Power Party)

(DTCL: Obviously I'm not a fan of GMS. I disagree with many of his opinions. But this is just too good not to share.)

Pic: Fabrications About The PAP

"I have been consistent in my view with regards to all these TC saga. Anybody with a simple understanding of running even a small business would realize that something is really wrong with WP's management of the TC right from the start. 

Not that I agree with the current system set up by PAP which made Members of Parliament who are supposed to be law makers or legislators to become mere Estate Managers, but still, such fatal revelations of gross incompetency and lack of management philosophy of Checks and Balances are extremely damaging. 

WP will destroy us all if KPMG ever found any dubious financial transactions. Opposition will go into another long winter... much longer than before if that happened. 

We just need people who truly believe in Democracy which requires the fundamentals of Checks and Balances based on Separation of Powers to come forward and rebuild opposition. Not some opportunistic charlatans who only pay lip service to Democracy, Checks and Balances but in practice, inherently and in essence manage their own entities with the lack of all these fundamentals."   via Facebook post (Jul 24 @ 3.31pm) 

GMS received a lot of flak for his post. To his credit, he didn't shrink back or change his position. Instead he soundly rebutted his critics.

"For those who think or feel that I am being harsh on WP, let me put this straight once and for all.

What have been revealed by KPMG is a SERIOUS problem with WP's TC financial management. In fact, it is bordering potential FRAUDULENT financial practice that could open to abuses and criminal siphoning of funds out from the TC without proper checks and balances.

The utilization of "DUMMY CODES" for those "suppliers" or "contractors" receiving payment without proper records of who they are, is the most serious problem of financial mismanagement that will subject to untraceable payment for whatever purposes. This practice could end up with money being illegally siphoned out without a trace and record! 

No respectable company would allow that to happen, lest a sizable "commercial" entity like a TC. It would be totally irresponsible to allow such practices to be carried out especially when public money and funds are involved. For any well run company, all payments made must have who were paid for what purpose clearly stated on payment vouchers with signatures of approving officer and recorded properly into the system.

I bet NONE of us would allow PAP to get away with this if they were to have such similar practice for any GLCs or even a small statutory boards.

It is pretty obvious to me that at this level of revelation, WP is at least guilty of dereliction of public duty in running the TC in such manner.

The situation may get even worse if any of such payments are found to be really fraudulent.

I am not that optimistic about the ultimate outcome if they are really going to do forensic audit on the whole thing..."    via Facebook post (July 24 @ 11.16pm) 

The million-dollar question on every one's mind is probably "... will these "lapses" and "incompetent" accounting practices be serious enough to trigger off criminal investigations against the parties involved?"

One thing's for sure - this is not the end of it yet.

As the KPMG continue their audits, its likely that more embarrassing skeletons and perhaps even potentially illegal transactions may be be exposed.

But don't just take our word for it.

Read KPMG latest report for yourself. Ask your friends who are in the Finance sector or managing a business  to have a read and explain horrors that are contained in those damning 40 odd pages.