In a low profile report by the Public Accounts Committee, a watchdog on the use public funds, it was revealed that Minister K Shanmugam’s Ministry of Home Affairs have made un-certified payments and unauthorised contract payments. The Ministry of Home Affairs was one of the 4 ministries singled out in the report over the inappropriate financial payments.
“Among the government agencies audited, there was also a laxity in financial controls that was discovered at the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry. These include payments that were not certified and contracts not signed by the relevant authorities.”
There is no further detail, and the watchdog report was not publicly released.
For several years, the same ministries have repeated the same lapses in financial controls. In 2015, the Auditor-General dug through the various ministries’ financial records and found serious breaches costing hundreds of millions in overpayment, under-billing and several other dubious financial transactions.
In 2016, the various ministries worsen their “lapses” and more conflict of interests were found by the Auditor-General. No police report was made in the past 3 years despite hundreds of cases of serious mismanagement in public funds, and there was also no follow-up report. The country’s corruption bureau reports directly to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and corruption investigations can only be authorised by the PM.