SINGAPORE – Former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong has been issued a correction direction under Singapore’s fake news law for statements on the long-running Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) saga.

The case concluded in July, when AHTC and Sengkang Town Council dropped their claims for damages and costs in civil suits against the leaders of the Workers’ Party (WP). Mr Yee is a WP member who has previously served as party treasurer and was most recently fielded in the 2020 General Election contesting Marine Parade GRC.

The suits had charged that WP leaders, including party chief Pritam Singh and chairwoman Sylvia Lim, breached their fiduciary duties as town councillors.

Protracted legal proceedings eventually found that WP town councillors did not owe AHTC fiduciary duties, among other findings, but also that the town councillors were negligent in allowing conflicts of interest to persist at AHTC.

Mr Yee on July 25 and 27 published posts on his Facebook page about the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) basis and motivation for actions taken against AHTC.

In his post, Mr Yee said the comments were his personal ones as a ringside observer because he never held any appointment in AHTC nor was he involved in any of the decision-making.

Some of his statements were false and misleading, said MND in a statement on Aug 26.

These statements are as follows:

First, that MND was wrong to call in external auditors.

Mr Yee’s reasoning was that it was Action Information Management’s (AIM) termination of the Town Council Management System (TCMS) on insufficient notice and handover issues with the previous PAP-controlled Aljunied Town Council that led to AHTC’s failures in reporting to MND and its audit findings. The WP had won Aljunied GRC from the People’s Action Party (PAP) in the 2011 General Election.

The PAP-owned AIM became a source of controversy due to its dealings with town councils.

Second, that MND’s decision to withhold grants from AHTC, call in external auditors, and call for an independent panel were politically motivated and not based on legitimate concerns.

Third, that MND withheld grants from AHTC in order to put pressure on it to appoint an independent panel or face potential bankruptcy.

Fourth, that MND had decided on the independent panel members.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue Mr Yee a correction direction, MND said.

On the first statement, MND said Mr Yee’s claim that the ministry was wrong to call in external auditors was false.

MND had called for further audit checks by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) in 2014 and accounting firm KPMG in 2016 because AHTC’s own auditors had flagged many issues with its financial and accounting systems, raising serious questions about whether public funds were properly applied, it said.

It added: “MND therefore had legitimate and sufficient basis to call in the external auditors.”

MND added that AHTC’s auditors – Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton – had submitted a disclaimer of opinion for AHTC’s financial statements for two consecutive years between 2011 and 2013.

“Such disclaimers of opinion by auditors are highly unusual and serious matters,” MND said.

Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton highlighted several failures on AHTC’s part, including failing to transfer $12.46 million into its sinking fund.

A special audit conducted by the AGO in February 2014 found that AHTC had several lapses in governance and compliance with the Town Councils Act (TCA) and Financial Rules.

It also found that until AHTC addressed these weaknesses, there could be no assurance that its accounts were accurate and reliable, or that public funds were properly spent, accounted for and managed.

AHTC then appointed KPMG as its independent accountant to identify its non-compliances with the TCA, MND said.

On Mr Yee’s statements regarding AIM, MND said: “There is no reasonable basis to suggest that AIM’s termination of the TCMS contract on insufficient notice or handover issues had caused all the TC’s process and system weaknesses.”

Mr Yee had said in a Facebook post on July 25 that AIM had the ability to deny a town council the use of the computer software in opposition-run wards with very short notice.

He added: “With information failure, AHTC started to fail reporting to MND and with their audits. Other issues could also have been related to a poor handover between the outgoing PAP TC and the WP TC.”

In response, MND said several of AHTC’s lapses were inherent to AHTC rather than due to AIM’s termination of the TCMS or handover issues in 2011.

MND said that based on KPMG’s findings, the root causes of AHTC’s lapses related to its governance framework and policy management, accounting practices, and the accounting system used to record and account for the town council’s transactions, among other things.

In December 2014, AHTC said its failure to report its service and conservancy charge arrears to MND was due to it not being able to use AIM’s TCMS.

MND noted, however, that AHTC had submitted its monthly arrears reports for 19 months from October 2011 to April 2013 without using AIM’s TCMS.

MND also noted that AHTC asked for extensions to use AIM’s TCMS on two occasions, which AIM agreed to.

“Given that both requests for extension were acceded to and AHTC did not request any further extension, there is no basis for alleging that the TCMS was terminated on insufficient notice,” it said.

On the statements that MND’s actions were politically motivated and that it had withheld grants to pressure AHTC to appoint an independent panel, the ministry said these are also false.

It said: “If left unaddressed, this falsehood calls into question the integrity of MND and other agencies which were involved in looking into the matter of AHTC.”

MND added that it acted because of the many audit concerns raised by AHTC’s own auditors and the AGO, and was fulfilling its statutory responsibility under the TCA by doing so.

MND noted that it had disbursed all withheld grants in April 2016, before the independent panel was formed in February 2017.

It is also false that MND decided on the panel members, the ministry said.

Mr Yee had, in his July 27 post, said: “The panel members have to be appointed from a shortlist given by the Government.”

MND said AHTC had appointed Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam to chair the panel in 2017, and allowed him to decide on the other two members as appropriate, or pick one from a shortlist by AHTC and the other from an HDB shortlist.

It added that the panel did not take any direction or instruction from the Housing Board, MND or any other person, and that it was independent and impartial, and as an agent for AHTC was supposed to act in its best interests.

Mr Yee has put up correction notices on his Facebook posts.