# Incidence of civil servants buying property near unannounced MRT stations ‘a concern’, but may not establish misconduct: PSD

- **Source:** The Business Times
- **Published:** 2026-09-25T10:30:00.000Z
- **Author:** Michelle Low
- **Original:** https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/singapore/economy-policy/incidence-civil-servants-buying-property-near-unannounced-mrt-stations-concern-may-not-establish
- **Topics:** Commercial & Industrial, Government & Policy, Transactions & Deals

## Featured rationale

The review signals heightened scrutiny of purchases influenced by transport-planning information and could reinforce safeguards governing property transactions by public officers.

## AI summary

PSD is reviewing property purchases from 2007 to 2011 after research identified 113 transactions totalling S$138 million near then-unannounced MRT stations.

## Original article

[SINGAPORE] The government is undertaking a review to assess if there was misconduct in civil servants’ purchases of property due to privileged information on planned MRT stations, as recently published research contends.

The review follows the publication of a working paper that reported a statistical association between civil servants working in agencies connected to rail planning and their purchases of private property near planned MRT stations, before the station locations were publicly announced.

The pattern was observed for MRT station announcements in or before 2011.

The Public Service Division (PSD) is identifying property purchases made between 2007 and 2011 – the period highlighted in the paper – by officers who were involved in rail planning at that time, and where the properties were close to locations subsequently announced as MRT stations.

“As these transactions took place some time ago, we will need time to retrieve the available records and examine the circumstances of each case. If we find evidence that an officer used non-public information to make a property purchase for personal benefit, the case will be referred to the police for further investigation,” PSD said in a statement released on Friday (Sep 25).

“We take the assertions in the paper seriously,” it said.

“The statistical patterns reported in the paper are a concern. But statistical patterns do not by themselves establish whether any individual officer actually had access to non-public information on MRT station locations at the relevant time, or whether such information influenced a property purchase.”

Research published in September by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a US-based non-profit organisation, found that mid-level civil servants disproportionately bought homes near MRT stations that were planned but not publicly announced.

The working paper found this behaviour concentrated one to two years before public announcements, and cited an estimated 113 property purchases totalling S$138 million.

PSD noted that information or speculation about planned MRT lines and stations may already be in the public domain or used to market new property developments.

“An officer may have purchased a unit in such a development for reasons unrelated to any non-public information. These possibilities do not remove the need for scrutiny, but underscore why each transaction must be examined carefully before any conclusion is drawn,” PSD said.

The NBER paper said that the buying behaviour it found was concentrated among mid-level officials and agencies connected to rail planning, and generated “meaningful private gains”, with pronounced gains over shorter holding periods. It was also observed among relatives, “consistent with information leakage”.

Data studied spanned “universe-level housing transactions” and compared purchases by civil servants against a control group of non-civil servants with similar demographic attributes and housing consumption behaviour.

After formal enforcement was stepped up in 2011 to 2012, a “subsequent decline in misconduct” was observed.

The paper, authored by academics based in the US and Hong Kong, studied “whether social norms inclined towards integrity could substitute for formal enforcement in deterring misconduct by public officials”.

“We find clear evidence of informed trading by civil servants,” wrote the authors Tomasz Piskorski from Columbia University, Amit Seru and Chun Zhao from Stanford University, and Jian Zhang from the University of Hong Kong.

PSD pointed to long-held rules and safeguards that prevent officers from using non-public information for personal benefit. Today, public officers are required to declare all property purchases: residential, commercial and land in Singapore and overseas.

The government also has controls over access to sensitive information and channels for reporting suspected wrongdoing, PSD said.

Officers with access to non-public information that may be relevant to a proposed personal transaction – whether involving property, vehicles or financial instruments – must declare their access and obtain approval before proceeding with the transaction.

Declarations for private property purchase were first introduced in 1996.

In 2011, an Internal Disclosure Policy framework was put in place.

Section 7 of the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018 criminalises the unauthorised use of non-public information by civil servants for personal gain.

In 2025, reporting systems were enhanced to facilitate requests for private property purchase by public officers with access to non-public information.

“The government expects all public officers to uphold the highest standards of integrity. Where there are grounds to suspect that an officer has misused non-public information for personal benefit, the matter will be investigated and appropriate action taken,” PSD said. “At the same time, conclusions of wrongdoing must be based on evidence and the facts of each case.”

The NBER paper stated that the authors “benefited immensely from discussions” with individuals including economist Li Shengwu, the estranged nephew of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

It also acknowledged current and former academics at the National University of Singapore, including Sumit Agarwal, Qian Wenlan, Jessica Pan, Ivan Png and Bernard Yeung. Some have since distanced themselves from the publication.

## Chinese translation

> Translation model: grok_cli

### 公务员在未公布地铁站附近购房“令人关切”，但未必能确立不当行为：公共服务署

该署正在识别2007年至2011年间由当时参与轨道交通规划的人员所进行的购房

[新加坡] 政府正在进行审查，以评估公务员购买房产时，是否因掌握有关规划中地铁站的特权信息而存在不当行为，正如最近发表的研究所主张的那样。

此次审查是在一篇工作论文发表之后展开的。该论文报告称，在与轨道交通规划相关机构工作的公务员，与他们在车站位置公开宣布之前于规划中地铁站附近购买私人房产之间，存在统计关联。

这一模式见于2011年或之前宣布的地铁站。

公共服务署（PSD）正在识别2007年至2011年间——即论文所强调的时期——由当时参与轨道交通规划的人员所进行的房产购买，这些房产靠近随后被宣布为地铁站的地点。

公共服务署在星期五（9月25日）发布的声明中说：“由于这些交易发生在较久以前，我们将需要时间检索现存记录，并审查每宗个案的情况。如果我们发现有证据表明某人员利用非公开信息购房以谋取个人利益，该个案将转交警方作进一步调查。”

该署说：“我们认真对待论文中的断言。”

“论文所报告的统计模式令人关切。但统计模式本身并不能确立任何个别人员在相关时间是否确实接触过有关地铁站位置的非公开信息，也不能确立此类信息是否影响了房产购买。”

总部位于美国的非营利组织国家经济研究局（NBER）于9月发表的研究发现，中层公务员不成比例地在已规划但尚未公开宣布的地铁站附近购房。

该工作论文发现，这种行为集中在公开宣布之前的一到两年，并援引估计有113宗房产购买，总额达新币1亿3800万元。

公共服务署指出，有关规划中地铁线和车站的信息或猜测，可能已经公开，或被用于推销新的房产发展项目。

公共服务署说：“人员购买此类发展项目中的单位，原因可能与任何非公开信息无关。这些可能性并不消除审查的必要，而是凸显了为何在得出任何结论之前，必须仔细审查每一宗交易。”

国家经济研究局的论文称，其所发现的购买行为集中于中层官员以及与轨道交通规划相关的机构，并产生了“有意义的私人收益”，在较短持有期内收益尤为显著。在亲属中也观察到这一情况，“与信息泄露相符”。

所研究的数据涵盖“全量层面的住房交易”，并将公务员的购买与人口特征及住房消费行为相似的非公务员对照组进行比较。

在2011年至2012年加强正式执法之后，观察到“不当行为随后下降”。

这篇由常驻美国和香港的学者撰写的论文，研究“倾向于诚信的社会规范能否取代正式执法，以遏止公职人员的不当行为”。

哥伦比亚大学的Tomasz Piskorski、斯坦福大学的Amit Seru和Chun Zhao，以及香港大学的Jian Zhang等作者写道：“我们发现公务员进行知情交易的明确证据。”

公共服务署指出，长期存在的规则与保障措施防止人员利用非公开信息谋取个人利益。如今，公职人员必须申报所有房产购买：包括在新加坡及海外的住宅、商业物业和土地。

公共服务署说，政府也对敏感信息的查阅设有管控，并设有举报可疑不当行为的渠道。

凡接触到可能与拟进行的个人交易相关的非公开信息的人员——无论涉及房产、车辆还是金融工具——都必须申报其信息接触情况，并在进行交易之前获得批准。

私人房产购买申报于1996年首次推出。

2011年，内部披露政策框架付诸实施。

2018年《公共部门（治理）法》第7条将公务员为谋取个人获利而未经授权使用非公开信息的行为定为刑事犯罪。

2025年，报告系统得到加强，以便利接触非公开信息的公职人员提出私人房产购买申请。

公共服务署说：“政府期望所有公职人员秉持最高的诚信标准。凡有理由怀疑某人员滥用非公开信息谋取个人利益，有关事项将受到调查并采取适当行动。”“与此同时，关于不当行为的结论必须基于证据以及每宗个案的事实。”

国家经济研究局的论文称，作者与包括经济学家李绳武在内的人士“从讨论中受益匪浅”。李绳武是国务资政李显龙关系疏远的侄子。

论文还致谢新加坡国立大学的现任及前任学者，包括Sumit Agarwal、Qian Wenlan、Jessica Pan、Ivan Png和Bernard Yeung。其中一些人此后已与该出版物保持距离。