SINGAPORE: More trouble is brewing for Youth Challenge founder
Vincent Lam .
The charity's new board has discovered that $15,220 had been
electronically transferred over the internet without its
authorisation.
The Board says it is lodging a police report, and it is also trying
to get back part of the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to
Lam.
The new Board was roped in last October, after the Commissioner of
Charities probed Youth Challenge following a complaint lodged by
the National Council of Social Service in August, alleging breaches
in the way the charity was run.
Some of the new Board members were former volunteers at the youth
charity, while others were friends of Lam who approached them to
help keep the charity's programmes going.
However, as members got down to work, even they were shocked at the
salary paid to Lam.
"In our view it was extravagant. As the honourable Commissioner
said, it's way above even for civil service standards. For example,
a gratuity will be paid for every 5 years of service. So every 5
years, the percentage increases all the way to the 20th year! It
comes to about 10 percent of the annual remuneration - this can
work out to quite a substantial amount!" said Mr Looi Teck Kheong,
President, Youth Challenge.
The first thing the Board did was to get rid of the gratuity
package.
Last December, Lam wrote a cheque of $25,000 to be paid to himself
as a performance bonus, but the Board refused to approve it and Lam
did not get the two signatures needed for cheque approval.
It also moved to cut his salary from $13,500 to $6,400, which was
approved at a 12th January board meeting 3 days before the
charity's pay day.
Other benefits like medical and dental package, and travel perks
were also slashed, and brought in line with the National Council of
Social Service's guidelines.
However, it was not until the Board met the Commissioner of
Charities on Monday that they found out the charity had an
electronic payment facility.
This is against the charity's constitution which requires two
levels of approval on funds.
Board members immediately went to the bank to cancel the internet
banking facility, and that was when they were told that $15,220 had
been electronically transferred out on the 15th January.
The amount is equivalent to Lam's previous monthly salary, plus
that of the only other full-time staff.
"The police report that we're filing is really to put on record
that there was such an internet transfer being effected. In our
view of course we think it's probably not authorised but it's
subject to investigation," said Mr Looi.
The new Board hopes to recover part of the $248,000 paid to Lam as
remuneration at the end of the last financial year.
It is now checking with its auditors and lawyers on the grounds for
recovery.
The Board has since retracted its earlier statement that Lam had
not 'misappropriated' any money.
It is now conducting its own investigation to find out who from the
previous boards approved Lam's extravagant pay packet.
In the meantime, it is suspending all fundraising activities as it
puts its house in order.
However, programmes like youth humanitarian missions abroad, and
Chinese New Year lunches for the elderly will still go ahead.
The charity has some $800,000 in reserves and believes it can
survive on the money for two years.
The new Board is confident it can rectify the breaches and weakness
in the charity's governance within the 6 months given by the
Commissioner. - CNA /dt /ch
