MND's Statement on Court of Appeal's Judgement in Lawsuit brought by SKTC & AHTC on AHTC's Town Councillors
The judgment signals heightened accountability for town-council financial governance and may encourage tighter controls over public funds used for municipal and estate management.
The Court of Appeal found that several AHTC councillors and employees lacked good faith concerning more than $23 million paid to FMSS from 2011–2014.
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PRESS STATEMENT BY MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON COURT OF APPEAL’S JUDGEMENT IN THE LAWSUIT BROUGHT BY SENG KANG TOWN COUNCIL (SKTC) AND ALJUNIED-HOUGANG TOWN COUNCIL (AHTC) ON AHTC’S TOWN COUNCILLORS
MND notes with concern that in the lawsuit brought by SKTC and AHTC, the Court of Appeal has found that Ms Sylvia Lim, some other AHTC Town Councillors and employees did not act in good faith in respect of $23 million in payments to FMSS.
2 They knew that there were "manifest conflicts of interest", they knew of the risk of overpayments/ improper payments to FMSS/FMSI — the CA said the extent of this risk “cannot be overstated”. Their payments process was a "paradigm example of poor financial governance".
3 As a result, over a period of three years, from 2011 to 2014, AHTC disbursed over $23m to FMSS.
4 The Court of Appeal has directed that parties make submissions on matters relating to damages in respect of the payments made.
5 MND will be monitoring the proceedings as public funds are involved.
Ministry of National Development
9 November 2022