According to SMRT yesterday (Oct 6), several staff have taken up the company’s “amnesty period” and owned up to the falsification of maintenance records that led to a train tunnel flooding on Oct 7. However the government-owned transport operator refused to give any name or reveal how many staff came forward.
The “amnesty period” was announced through a company email to every staff earlier this week, promising “no punishment” in exchange for voluntary admission of lapses. While SMRT promised “no punishment”, the staff who came forward will still likely be dismissed.
Given the low integrity and credibility of the dictatorship, the entire episode is also likely a false move to absolve the SMRT management, CEOs Desmond Kuek and Lee Ling Wee, Land Transport Authority management and Transport Ministers Khaw Boon Wan and Ng Chee Meng of responsibility over the flood train tunnel. SMRT and LTA will likely continue their “large-scale audit” and close the matter without finding any new evidence, and sacrifice the staff who came forward.
In a preliminary report released earlier this week, 3 quarterly maintenance records of the anti-flood pump system were falsified starting from Dec 2016. No corresponding documents like track access permit show any record of the maintenance team conducting any work on the signed off date.
SMRT and LTA is diverting the blame fully on the SMRT staff and putting them up as scapegoats to appease the public.