Under The Angsana Tree: 'Pervasive' lapses in WP town council

Update 1 Nov 2018: Audit cases reported by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) from 2012 to 2017

The landmark Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) trial centers around the alleged mismanagement of public monies by Workers' Party (WP) leaders. Since so much attention, effort and money that has gone into this matter since 2012, I couldn't help but wonder — what was the scale of WP's alleged mismanagement relative to AGO's audit findings for all government agencies?

As a Singaporean, I'd like to have an objective assessment of how much of our taxpayer's money was mismanaged, regardless of who mismanaged it. Since AGO audit issues are published yearly, I took a data-driven approach and measured the size and scale of Worker's Party's audit lapses vis-a-vis all other audit cases listed by AGO from 2012 to 2017. (You can read about my data-gathering and data-processing approach in detail)

This articles hopes to summarize 5 years' worth of AGO reports (and perhaps several weeks' worth of time of reading them) into a 5-minute article.

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WP MPs 'have not shown integrity'

Mr Shanmugam (above) criticised AHTC chairman Pritam Singh "for suppressing the truth (designed to mislead) both in Parliament and in Court"

Workers' Party (WP) leaders have not shown integrity or ethics in managing their town council's finances and fixing lapses, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday.

In a strongly-worded FaceBook post, he called on WP's 6 elected MPs to come clean on millions in irregular payments in its "dark corners", sums that were flagged by independent auditor KPMG in its report on WP-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) last week.

KPMG found "pervasive" control failures in AHTC's accounts and processes over the past five years, spanning governance, financial control, financial reporting, procurement and records management.

related:
'Pervasive' lapses found in WP town council
KPMG flags pattern of accounting breaches
Aljunied-Hougang TC auditors find 'pervasive',systemic lapses and lax controls

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KPMG report on AHTC paints 'devastating account' of town council mismanagement: Shanmugam

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

Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam on Sat (Jul 23) said accounting firm KPMG’s 4th monthly report on the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) paints “a devastating account of the Workers’ Party’s mismanagement of its town council”.

In a FaceBook post, Mr Shanmugam described the findings as “a damning litany of highly irregular & suspicious financial practices, poor governance structures and extensive leadership failures”.

The KPMG report, which was made public by AHTC late on Wed night, uncovered lapses in its audit of the town council. KPMG had said AHTC would need "at least 18 months" to fix lapses uncovered by the firm. It also stated that it found a further 70 control failures within the town council, in addition to the 115 control failures earlier identified by the Auditor-General's Office.

related: KPMG findings on AHTC lapses of 'grave concern': HDB

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K Shanmugam Sc · 23 July via Facebook Mentions · Edited

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

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 & 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 5 years.”
There was no “culture of compliance to controls”.
“There was no ….…enforcement of integrity and ethical values,”

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Shanmugam slams AHTC for ‘breezy’ attitude on KPMG report

Not only does the latest report by KPMG on Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) show that “the rot is at the top”, the town council’s breezy response to the report shows no sense of responsibility, said Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam.

KPMG’s latest monthly progress report had identified an additional 70 “control failures” in the town council’s governance, financial control and reporting, procurement, and records management over 5 years, and also flagged a “pervasive” culture of systemic weaknesses.

In a FaceBook post on Sat (Jul 23), Mr Shanmugam took issue with a statement from AHTC chairman Pritam Singh.

related: KPMG report details root causes of AHTC lapses

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Aljunied-Hougang town council accepts auditors' 'reset' call

Auditors of Workers' Party-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) have found "pervasive control failures" in its accounts and work processes over the past 5 years.

These weaknesses cover key areas of governance, financial control, financial reporting, procurement & records management.

In a report yesterday, KPMG also found that the town council's management lapses went beyond individual issues and were a systemic problem.

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'Pervasive' lapses found in WP town council