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The new
NKF¨S progress report 2006
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Commissioner of Charities appointed
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Key data of 100 Singapore charities to be listed on MOH
Website
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KPMG submits its report on NKF to the new NKF Board
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NKF - win back
donors' trust
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Petition: National Kidney Foundation
Singapore Responsibility
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New Board and CEO for National Kidney Foundation (NKF)
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Police advisory on NKF suit
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New NKF Board appointed
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NKF - Investigations into allegations
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Excerpt of article "No more passing the
buck please" by Chua Mui Hoong in The
Straits Times of 21 Dec 2005 (22) |
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"...Nobody
seems to have had oversight over CEO T.T.
Durai and his 'coterie of long-serving
assistants'. |
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"Certainly not the board. Not the auditors.
And finally, not even the government
regulators..." |
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"Looking at the NKF issue, it appears that
the problem is not that there was no
regulation. In fact, one could argue that
there was too much - scattered over too many
government agencies..." |
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"Did the government agencies close one eye?" |
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"It was not just NCSS that felt something
was amiss at the NKF." |
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"As far back as 1999, MOH had queried NKF's
expanding medical programme and the
excessive funds it was raising. It was
concerned enough to insist on having an MOH
official sit in on NKF executive committee
meetings." |
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"But when the official was denied access to
policy-making decisions, MOH chose to stop
the arrangement rather than press for more
transparency in NKF's decision-making
process. |
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"Furthermore, just three years later, it was
MOH which gave NKF back its IPC status - for
three years..." |
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Excerpt of article "The CEO blew his own
whistle" by Ong Soh Chin in The
Straits Times of 21 Dec 2005 (23) |
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"...Nay, NKF
was felled by its own CEO. The reasons
which compelled Mr Durai to sue The
Straits Times for libel are only known to
him. If he had not taken that one fateful
step, the doors would not have opened and
the skeletons would have remained in the
closet..." |
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"Perhaps he had been emboldened by the NKF's
victory in a widely publicised 1999 lawsuit
against Madam Tan (Kiat Noi). She had
circulated an e-mail accusing the
organisation of wasteful spending and
corruption. As a result, she had to pay NKF
$50,000 in damages and legal costs, withdraw
her allegations and make a public apology in
The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao..." |
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"Before that, the NKF had twice taken legal
action against people who had allegedly
defamed it. In August 1997 and in December
1998, it sued two men for alleging that Mr
Durai travelled First Class on Singapore
Airlines and for insinuating that he had
used NKF funds meant for patients." |
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"Both issued public apologies and paid out
undisclosed sums in damages and legal
costs..." |
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Excerpt of article "Health GPC head: It's
worse than I'd thought" by Salma Khalik in The
Straits Times of 21 Dec 2005 (H4) |
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"Madam Halimah
Yacob, who heads the Government
Parliamentary Committee for Health, has
lashed out at the National Kidney
Foundation's former management for its
'blatant abuse of power' and said that the
Ministry of Health (MOH) has some
explaining to do..." |
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"...In January
2002, MOH took over the supervision of the
charity." |
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"Madam Halimah said: 'The public would want
to know why MOH (subsequently) gave NKF
three years of IPC status after the NCSS had
expressed its concerns..." |
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"On Mr Durai, she said: 'I am particularly
shocked that the chief executive officer
could be allowed to enrich himself by
claiming overtime and backdated leave, a
human resource practice which I have never
heard of and which makes a mockery of the
word 'sacrifice'." |
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"What is of greater concern to me though is
how little NKF subsidised patients, and even
overcharged them to make a profit!" |
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"After playing on people's sentiments
through television images of suffering
patients, they have instead caused more
hardship to the patients." |
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Excerpt of letter by Leong Sze Hian in the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 21 Dec 2005 (H9) |
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"...On Dec 31,
2001, the National Council of Social
Service (NCSS) revoked NKF's Institution
of Public Character (IPC) status, which
meant that the NKF could not issue
tax-exemption receipts to donors." |
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"But less than a month later, in January
2002, the Health Ministry restored NKF's IPC
status, administered by the Ministry of
Health Endowment Fund, despite the NCSS
having informed the ministry of its
observations of NKF." |
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"Why was the above not disclosed, such that
it was never reported in the media?" |
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"Is not the termination of IPC status of
Singapore's largest charity - by amount of
donations - a matter of interest and grave
public concern?..." |
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Excerpt of letter by Ong Hui Xiao in the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 21 Dec 2005 (H9) |
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"...It is
simply unbelievable that the National
Kidney Foundation (NKF) has over the years
cheated members of the public of their
hard-earned money by misleading them with
ridiculous claims. |
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"Some of the claims, which got me really
worked up, include stating that the NKF
helped thousands of children and
beneficiaries - by including those who went
for health screenings - and overstating the
monthly subsidy to patients by over $1,000!" |
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"It would seem that all the donations I have
made went to defray the expenses of one man
and his friends. This fills me with anger
and a deep sense of injustice..." |
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STATEMENT BY HEALTH MINISTER KHAW BOON WAN ON KPMG'S REPORT ON THE
NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION |
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"First,
anyone found in criminal breach will be prosecuted to the full
extent of the law. This will be done. MOM has completed its
investigations. We will be pressing for charges to be made. CAD
and CPIB are still in the midst of their investigations. They will
proceed thoroughly as usual. There will be no cover-up of any
wrong-doing. As their investigations are still in progress, we
should not comment further at this stage. |
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"Second, we will clean up the NKF. We have now a strong Board and
they are delivering results. Their job is unfinished but they are
committed to seeing it through. Mr Gerard Ee and most of his
Directors have agreed to stay on for 3 years to complete the
transformation of the NKF. The Government appreciates their
national service. I am confident that in 3 years¨ time, NKF will
have a standard of corporate governance that is first class... |
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"On
Government¨s part, we accept KPMG¨s sharp comments on the
regulators. There were many agencies involved, each with its
specific roles and responsibilities. This created a lack of clarity
in the regulatory structure, which became vulnerable to
exploitation. We will fix this within 3 months. This may require
legislative changes..."
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More..... |
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Excerpt of letter by Michael Loh Toon Seng
(Dr) in the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 22 Dec 2005 (H10) |
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"...Using sob
stories to appeal for public donations,
exploiting stars to do stunts to raise
funds, the existence of unheard-of HR
practices like obscenely generous bonuses,
back pay, ex-gratia payments even for
people who have resigned, conversion of
leave days to cash, $187,000 paid for Mr
Durai's 'overtime', making profits from
medicines, flying First Class (and suing
people for saying so), questionable
business relationships with board members
which clearly showed a conflict of
interest, an utter lack of governance and
transparency... How could we in
squeaky-clean Singapore have allowed
things to deteriorate to this state?..." |
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Excerpt of letter by Dr Robert Loh Choo
Kiat, (former president of the National
Council of Social Services) in the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 22 Dec 2005 (H10) |
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"...In a
dialogue in 2001, NCSS pointed out to NKF
some of its activities which were
considered questionable. If my memory
serves me right, much if not all these
issues were communicated to the
Commissioner of Charities. |
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"About that time, NCSS was in the midst
of introducing a culture of corporate
governance to voluntary welfare
organisations (VWOs) and the position was in
a state of flux. The VWOs were in the
process of deciding the extent of
self-auditing and transparency in their
fund-raising activities and service-delivery
programmes. |
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"Any regulatory guidelines then were simple
and had not been developed to any degree of
sophistication. |
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"Besides, NSCC could regulate VWOs funded by
it through the Community Chest with some
authority and effectiveness. |
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"NKF was not funded by NCSS/Community Chest
and the only action available was not to
extend income-tax exemption and, ultimately,
withdraw it. |
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"This by itself would send a strong signal
that something was not quite in order. The
Commissioner of Charities had to be informed
of this action and why it was taken. |
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"I wonder if KPMG had communicated with the
Commissioner of Charities or NCSS before
concluding its report." |
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Excerpt of letter by Felix Ang Kok Hou in the Forum Page of The
Straits Times of 22 Dec 2005 (H10) |
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"...My
question is to the NKF's fomer auditor,
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Why were its
accounting standards so different from
KPMG's? After all, the two auditors are
among the most established auditing firms
in the world. |
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"Costs and subsidies were inflated,
according to KPMG, but these were not
detected in the several years that PwC had
been auditing NKF's books." |
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Excerpt of article "Checks and
balances a rule for life" by K.
Kesavapany and Ho Khai Leong in The
Straits Times of 12 Jan 2006 (32) |
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"...Legislation
to protect the interests and identities of
whistle-blowers is badly needed... |
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"Getting
rid of corruption requires a multi-faceted
approach. Revelations from media
investigations and sting operations are
only the tip of the iceberg. In the NKF
saga, there were at least three cases of
the harassment and victimisation of honest
employees who alerted the public about the
lavishness of the former CEO. What was
worse, the subsequent persecution of these
witnesses took place within the system,
subverting the very core of governance... |
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"Defamation lawsuits should not be used
too liberally, especially against
individuals whose complaints seem obvious
and legitimate in the first place..." |
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Charges
Filed against Richard Yong and Loo Say San |
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CAD has
completed its investigations into the affairs of the NKF and
presented its findings to the Attorney General's Chambers.
After considering the investigation report and the evidence,
the Public Prosecutor has decided to proceed with one charge
each under Section 157 of the Companies Act against Mr
Richard Yong Kun Da and Mr Loo Say San for failing to
exercise reasonable diligence as directors of NKF. The
offence carries a maximum penalty of a fine not exceeding
$5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. |
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On the
basis of the evidence available, CAD will not be filing
criminal charges against any other person. |
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
18 April 2006 @ 9.30 am |
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Source:
www.spf.gov.sg Media
Release 18 Apr 2006 |
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Responses to KPMG Report on
NKF
All rights reserved
