Friday May 25, 9:01 PM Reuters
Singapore auditors find irregularities in ministries
SINGAPORE, May 25 (Reuters) - Several high-profile Singapore
government departments have committed financial and accounting
irregularities, a parliamentary report said on Friday.
The report by the parliament's Public Accounts Committee
highlighted procurement irregularities, unfair payment practices
and circumvention of internal controls at key departments in the
Singapore government, which has repeatedly topped polls for being
one of the least corrupt regimes in the world.
The accounts committee said that the Economic Development Board
(EDB), the city-state's powerful economic agency, had shown lapses
in its governance structure, financial operations, procurement and
accounting systems.
"This was the first audit of the EDB undertaken by the
Auditor-General and the audit had given rise to a large number of
observations in which the board had not established proper internal
control procedures," the accounts committee said in the report
released on Friday.
A sum of S$105 million ($69 million) allocated in the EDB's 2005/06
budget was not submitted to the EDB's board for approval, and the
board had allowed staff to grant loans and to borrow without
reporting that to the board, the report said.
Singapore in April raised the salaries of its ministers and top
civil servants, already among the world's highest paid, by about 60
percent to an average of S$1.9 million per year on grounds that
Singapore needs to pay top wages to attract talent and to make sure
that ministers are not tempted by corruption.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Singapore as
the fifth-most corruption-free nation out of 163.
The accounts committee said that Singapore's Ministry of
Information, Communications and the Arts had asked some of its
suppliers to change the dates or credit terms on invoices
"apparently to conceal late payments".
"Although the cases reported might not be significant in monetary
terms...it casts doubt on the integrity of the public service," the
accounts committee said.
The report also said that the defence ministry was found to have
showed conflicts of interest in the award of three contracts for
the renovation of its offices abroad.
The committee also pointed at deficiencies in the land sales
procedures of the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), a
statutory board under the trade ministry and the developer of the
premium waterfront Sentosa Cove residence.
"The instances of deficiencies...would cause the public to view the
land sales as not being transparent, fair and competitive," it
said.
Link
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I remember that there were similar irregularities a few years back
too, involving MINDEF.
