In these difficult situation, simply shameful and disgusting.
I wonder what more, the “little by little” wasteful habits.

they have reason(s) for everything…what they get will probably be a light pat on their hand and a gentle reprimand : dont do it again! so what’s new? The only solution is to shame them on a daily basis until election comes around!

The CPIB shld be called in to investigate, something fishy going on.

CPIB? In this instance..they need “special” instruction from the PM office rite?

It could be a little wayang to show that the current system do check and balance. So, no need for opposition lah.

So these are ‘lapses’ and ‘oversights’ ah? How do they know it is not ‘mismanagement’ or ‘corruption’ instead? Since the aforementioned terms have been used, you can be sure that there will be no public inquiry.

PS >> Was the wastage of the 6 chalets elaborated in the print edition? I’m curious to know what that was all that about.

If they can dismiss loss of over S$300 mil (sori not sure exact figure) to Singtel as
an honest mistake, what is S$26 mil?
next we will hear is ‘ Let’s move on”

Why waste time on these peanut $26 Million? They should spend more time to check on our SWFs.

Trying to search for needles in a haystack, ahhh they finally found it, the $26 Million, neglecting the other haystack full of rusty needle remains. One wonders where the rust comes from.

Good job, whoever got the auditor-general and the auditor-general himself to uncover this. I’m sure there’s more stuff than what was audited and reported, so we shouldn’t stop here.

How come Mindef can give the contract to a blacklisted sub-contractor?. Something is not right here. I guess there is no check and balance in this case. As a responsible organization, Mindef should explain to the public where it has gone wrong and what actions have been taken to ensure such slipshot and sloppy work will not happen again.
26 million dollars is alot of money (public funds) and not just peanuts. The money should be spent wisely and I think PAC is correct to reject the reasons given by NHB. Just because the money was already budgetted does not mean NHB could spend it without following the proper procedures.

Who is the talent heading NHB ?

For some info on this chief, check this out dude :
http://www.ps21.gov.sg/Challenge/2008_03/feature.html

and this

http://www.ps21.gov.sg/Challenge/2008_03/images/michael_koh.jpg
very hansom wan.

How about the air ticket that our PM said few weeks ago in an intvw that civil servants are on economy class unless it is more than 6 hours.

Any findings of waste and non-compliance?

can someone check on the IT contracts awarded by ‘them’ as well? I know of a new citizen small company who hires mainly foreigners somewhere from near the indian ocean where he originally hailed from and doing quite well with multi-year contracts awarded to it. But I have no idea how many singaporeans has on payroll and the proportion of his headcounts.

Just thot this may be useful to consider checking. No harm right?

I urge all employees in these companies to BLOW the WHISTLE via avenues like popular blogs if they suspect something. Not sure it is ok to suspect and keep it low profile while investigation gets started to comfom the reality?

Lets come together and BLOW the whistle.

that is the trouble with this gahmen. they keep telling ppl that they are transparent. look at what happened!

the way it seems that they are not just running the gahmen about the whole business community as well. for sure, you can’t control, can you? to let go and let the private run it, it is too pain to let go. so what is it exactly they want?

Hi Blackfeline #4,

Not just direction from the Prime Minister’s Office, but also concurrence from the President. Question is whether the President’s concurrence falls under sole discretion of the President or is it within the advisory of the Cabinet.

aiyoyo

why waste tax payer $???

is it commoners paying too much tax???

aiyoyo

Is not the first time PAC had found some problem with the Sat. Board but what action ttaken to repair the fault in the future. No point keep checking but the system of checking is not done in a correct manner. Waht can we do if things already happen, money had been spend and wasted. Let’s see whether any more findings will be reported.

18) aiyoyo on June 25th, 2009 4.06 pm aiyoyo

why waste tax payer $???

is it commoners paying too much tax???
======================================

I am pretty sure many singaporeans are oblivious that it affects them one way or another. Especially the Apathetic Pathetix.

Those who have play Master Mind understand the Left Pocket and Right Pocket Theory!

In the Internal Economy, the MasterMind still the same Master. No matter who is who! Tender is just matter of procedure!

Stats Board had to spend the budget allocated else will be eaten!

If Gov so Capable, go and earn money from China so Singaporean pay less GST!

For the National Museum case, the company in question is GSM, a Canadian design firm. Since the museum’s opening a few years ago, GSM has gotten several more contracts for building exhibitions there. I think this close link between the two has to be brought to light, seeing how favoritism could’ve have been a factor in the initial questionable $26 million decision. Has the museum awarded all contracts fairly to GSM? Are there personal relationships between GSM and the National Museum’s staff that could have made their working relationship problematic? Is there any criminal misconduct? So many questions, so little revealed to the public….

10) Retiree on June 25th, 2009 2.11 pm
26 million dollars is alot of money (public funds) and not just peanuts. The money should be spent wisely and I think PAC is correct to reject the reasons given by NHB. Just because the money was already budgetted does not mean NHB could spend it without following the proper procedures

……………..and they just pay those NS men miserable peanuts salaries to risk their lives for the 2.1/2 years so called to serving the country, or serving something else????

question is who owns the company, who sits on the board

It seems like the Lee Familee is shielding their cronies from real competition from other similar businesses. $26 million have been awarded to NHB instead of leaving the contract for open competition.

There are lapses in planning the annual budget by our Finance Minister as he does not look into details how the stat boards spend their allocated funds.

If anyone bothers to find out, it is not hard to know that most of the time the Stat Boards have to ‘crack their heads’ on how to ‘finish the budget’ by end of every financial year.

It’s a tough job to head any Stat Board man!

#26,
++++It’s a tough job to head any Stat Board man!++++

Hey man, every job is tough also lah.
The difference can be many, eg. PAY.

#26, I am not sure I understand the comments that it is tough to head any stat board in the light of a budget context. In the first place, for the respective budget the guy has to be in charge, he is supposed to be in tune with the ground progressively. No one is saying he doesn’t need to fine tune last minute during budget submission. Then use the budget to reflect the needs on the plans, where reasonable. This is due diligence and it happens in the private sector. If the guy in charge of the stat board cannot even do this, he should either buck up or ship out NOW!

Is it true that no one is accountable and lets move on?

In NHB case, heads better start rolling.
$7.7m dsign fees for a $26m gallery is out of this world, representing 29.6%.
Normal design fees for building consultants is Sg is less than 10%. How come this is allowed? What is so special about this company?
And what is so special about this gallery that it should cost $26m.?
And to top it off , the company is then awarded the building contract.
CPIB and CAD should be called in to investigate.

#30,

left to right and right to left….

Anybody can find out who is this contractor, any relationship with our elites PAPies.

A lot of charges by Poly and hospitals are not qualified for MediSave, NTUC also won’t accept. Senior Citizens have to pay Cash. What man ? Payment to Polyclinics and Hospitals are clean bills. No hanky panky. But Govt. can do things we cannot.
Singapore Boleh ?
Osamasama Gilah

Most of the time, you know these are mismangements. The management of these stats board should be held responsible.

There are too many organizations and companies directly or indirectly under their umbrella. Wow, think of all the service fee to pay and pay for auditing these. Big business from 1 umbrella. sorly, i digressed into auditing.

when i was in ntu, i saw prc prof and researchers buying research stuff from only prc companies. our public money not only goes into profitting prcs workers but also prc companies who will then take the money back to prc. in the long run, this would bankrupt our mother land!

Any surpise? I long suspected there must be so much hanky panky going behind the scene. Otherwise why is nothing ever transparent? They won’t dare let any independent party check anything and the PM even go to the extent of ‘preaching’ one-party system does not mean he can issue blank cheques! HAHAHA.

There was a loophole in the civil service 3 quote system. Not sure whether this was addressed. Owner of company A sets up companies B and C. Manager in civil service contacts owner (may be related to the manager) and 3 quotes are submitted. Manager then selects the best offer. Regardless of which company is selected, the same owner benefits. Wonder if the perpetrators are punished. And how to uncover the wrongdoings that went on for years.
Another scenario: Manager has 3 friends, 2 working in third party companies and able to use company letterhead to submit quotes. Third friend owns company. RFP sent to the 3 friends. The 2 who works in third party companies either submit outrageous quotes or ‘no quote’. Natually the project is awarded to the third friend.

Hi #38 pancake,
why not we consider a hypothetical scenario of :
the main players in the market went for a meeting at a karaoke bar one night to fix a price where all get a good margin of profit? whoever bids for it , the buyer lose!

kekekekeke

With the PAPies having absolute 100% political control of this tiny island, the effect naturally is that they have 100% control over all the money here. Thus, with so much money rolling in their own backyard they have to past a significant amount down to their running- dogs in order to retain their 100% control, and who better to siphon-off these millions upon millions than to their cronies, their relatives, their boot-lickers and the members of their mafia. Everybody knows that this is the scenario now. But that is not the end. When the Godfather goes, safely buried, this is going to be the catalyst to set off a chain of events which is going to bring havoc and mayhem on to this little red dot. The unified PAPy machinery is going to crack and fracture at a speed which will astonish everybody. Why is this so and what is going to be the cause of the PAPy’s party breaking up into 2 or 3 factions? The answer is “100% of all the island,s money that is rolling in the PAPy’s backyard”. There is going to be a tremendous rush to corner the millions and the billions, by the key players of the PAPies. Tremendous corruption and decay is going envelope the island, and this is the time when Singapore will be at the crossroads, and inevitably a new party is going to be voted in by the citizens. This scenario is not a fantasy. We only need to read history to see what happened to all those absolutist dictatorships of the past, and from this we can safely forecast what is going to take place here in the coming years.

Very clever to talk. We should be glad that it is only $26 mil. What has it got to do with opposition? Stop the ranting and concentrate on asking pertinent questions.

Why is the Canadian company charging so high for design fee? and getting the contract some more. Run a check. Don’t distract from the main issues.

Whistle blowers yes we need them.

40) budamax1952 on June 28th, 2009 10.13 am
“With the PAPies having absolute 100% political control of this tiny island…”

how many centuries could this last?

@pancake

Just about every company’s 3 quote system is the same lah. The system is based on integrity of the Employees and short of getting procurement to check up on the background on all the 3 companies, this isn’t a easy issue to resolve.

But thankfully, 3 quotes is only up to a certain level. Most big projects should have been called under public tenders.

Just because the loophole exists in private companies mean that we can let it be. More accountability is required when public moneys is involved. The collusion that I mention isn’t a myth.

inix

If every company’s 3 quote system is the same, the one company who applies the system in the real sense of getting the best quote is the one to survive in the competitive market place. Lower cost = higher profit or maintaining profit if price has to be slashed.

Private companies cannot afford to be laid back like civil service, they have competitions (unless the company is monopoly in the business). Civil service and monopoly businesses can abuse the 3-quote system because the money is guaranteed.

“Do you know of other instances of wasteful spending by the stat boards?”

Yes. #36) a singaporean in foreign land has cited one example, which i also knew of but in a slightly different aspect from…..

“when i was in ntu, i saw prc prof and researchers buying research stuff from only prc companies. our public money not only goes into profitting prcs workers but also prc companies who will then take the money back to prc. in the long run, this would bankrupt our mother land!”

In the cases I knew, the foreign research prof (99% of our local uni research prof are foreigners) would hire foreign research assistants instead of hiring locals (now u know why our local qualified workers r out of jobs). Some even use part of our tax-payers research fund (billions of $$$) for personal projects (embedded).

In addition, these so called “researchers” do not carry out the research themselves yet put their names on the research papers written by their assistants. How reliable are their “research findings” is anybody’s guess.

Concerns sg policy makers need to address:

1. Can we trust the “research findings” presented and use them for education or scientific development in sg?

2. When these foreign researchers return to their own countries after the projects are over, where do you think the real findings will be used, or who will benefit the most without spending a cent, but rather at the expanse of our local tax-payers’ fund?

3. Since foreigners will tend to hire foreigners (statistically shown), especially those from their own countries, how can the locals learn from these “talents”?

4. Who are doing the checks and balances to ensure that the funds are not being abused or misused for personal gain?

5. What kind of cultures are we bringing into sg with such influx of “brilliant” people who do not have a sense of belonging to sg?

6. Why are our policy makers not grooming our own local researchers, but instead giving away our fund to foreigners who will beget even more foreigners, and forcing our own potential researchers to seek opportunities elsewhere?

7. Is academic excellence more important than the sense of belonging to your own country? Or are “brilliant” people who use sg as a “transit lounge” more valued than locals who may not be as “brilliant”, but who truly want to contribute to their own country, sg?

There may be more concerns to address than those mentioned above.

More about the NRF at:
http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_getdata.pl?actno=2006-ACT-17-N&doctitle=NATIONAL%20RESEARCH%20FUND%20ACT%202006&date=latest&method=part&sl=1&segid=1141267123-000108

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/420120/1/.html

http://www.nrf.gov.sg/NRF/otherProgrammes.aspx?id=142 (these “talents” are foreigners)

“Do you know of other instances of wasteful spending by the stat boards?”

NTUC Income Worrying Expenses

Someone investigated into NTUC income expenses. It seems that our seemingly frugal NTUC income, is splurging on exotic holidays and many other expenses…

See: http://kiasee123.blogspot.com/