Corrupted President Halimah Yacob who won the presidency election by disqualifying her two other contestant opponents declared that she spent S$220,875 on campaigning even without having to contest. Her big-dollar expenses raised questions of corruption among many Singaporeans, with most questioning how did she spend so much money without a contest.
Below are some of her expenses reported excluding 10% GST:
1) 10,000 fridge magnet at S$3,000
2) 530 umbrellas at S$1,640
3) S$73,000 on 20,100 posters
4) S$34,000 on 1,280,000 A5-sized cards
5) Undisclosed amount on Tamil translation, small flags, red whistles and shirts
6) S$5,992 on room rental from NTUC building
7) Undisclosed amount on renting of Fuji Xerox printer, phones, fax machines and carpark coupons
8) Undisclosed amount on mini-puffs, cakes, pastries, nasi biryani and cookies from Delifrance
9) S$2,000 on buffet for 45
10) S3,723.60 on voters register containing addresses and private details of every registered voter in Singapore
Halimah Yacob received donations of S$800,000 in total from 7 donors, with one donating S$440,000. None of the donor was named and Halimah Yacob did not spent a single cent as recorded zero under personal expenses.
Halimah Yacob’s exorbitant expenses is out of proportion and is yet another tell-tale sign that she lacks financial astuteness to manage the country’s national reserves. Unlike her disqualified contestants, the former PAP MP does not have to meet a S$500 million shareholders’ equity requirement – making her the most unqualified when it comes to scrutinising finance spending of the ruling party government.
