SINGAPORE — Former Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang conceded on Wednesday (Oct 17) it did not “occur” to him to ask his town council’s then-incumbent managing agent CPG Facilities Management to stay on, or to call a tender for a replacement. 

Cross examining the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), who was taking his stand as the first defence witness for the second day, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh said it was “difficult to accept” that it did not cross the mind of someone like Mr Low — who had more than 20 years of town management experience, and was “aware” of the rules governing the Town Councils Act — to call for a tender to pick a new managing agent.

Mr Singh, who is acting as the lawyer for Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) — one of the two plaintiffs in the lawsuits — added: “It could not have escaped your mind that you need a tender.”

“You knew the rules, you had been living with these rules … the reason is that if there were a tender, there was a possibility that someone else might put in a bid … someone else better than FM Solutions and Services (FMSS, Aljunied-Hougang Town Council’s managing agent) puts in a bid … (and) you are duty-bound to accept them. Then FMSS doesn’t get the job,” Mr Singh charged.

Mr Low, two of his fellow MPs, two town councillors, FMSS, and the husband-and-wife team behind the firm are being sued by PRPTC and an independent panel acting on behalf of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), which want them to account for over S$33.7 million paid to FMSS between 2011 and 2015.

Disagreeing with Mr Singh, Mr Low, who was formerly the MP for Hougang Single Member Constituency after winning the seat in 1991, told the court on Wednesday that it “didn’t occur to me” at the point of taking over AHTC that it would be “open to (both parties) to discuss the arrangements” for the release of CPG, which was the previous managing agent of Aljunied Town Council.

He also testified that it would take about two months to run a tender process. Mr Singh then said that the MPs could have asked CPG to stay on while a tender was concurrently called, but Mr Low said that was not done.

Asked why, Mr Low replied: “There is a risk that the services could be affected. We don’t want to drag it longer … that is my view.”

He added: “It didn’t cross my mind. We were preoccupied with the challenges … CPG wanted out. What is the point of asking them to hang on?”

There was no intention to call for a tender, Mr Singh contended, because FMSS was “already locked in”.

Mr Low again disagreed with the lawyer, but Mr Singh carried on: “It was obviously on your mind … you were talking about what FMSS was going to do on July 15.”

July 15 was a date referenced in court on Wednesday — in handwritten notes that fellow WP MP Sylvia Lim had of a May 30, 2011 meeting with CPG, as well as in a letter of intent from FMSS to the town council.