SINGAPORE — The court heard on Wednesday (Oct 17) that back in 2011, former Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang did not think it was a “big deal” to disclose to the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) the conflict of interest between the husband-wife duo who were concurrently employees of the town council, as well as owners of its managing agent.

This prompted a sharp rebuke from Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who is the lawyer for Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC).

“We are here in this court because of this, and you are saying that the disclosure of the shareholders’ (conflict of interest) is not a big deal?” said Mr Singh.

When asked if he still shared that same sentiment today, Mr Low said: “The fact is that the court case (has) come all (the way) up to here (the High Court), how can I say it is not a big deal?”

Mr Low and two fellow WP Members of Parliament (MPs), two town councillors, as well as Ms How Weng Fan and the late Danny Loh — who are owners of managing agent FM Solutions and Services (FMSS) — are being sued by the PRPTC and an independent panel acting on behalf of AHTC over alleged wrongful payments made to FMSS and the town council’s service providers.

Mr Low and fellow WP members Yaw Shin Leong and Sylvia Lim had “suppressed” this conflict of interest from the town council, said Mr Singh.

He referred to an email chain on Aug 3, 2011 between the trio, where former Hougang MP Yaw asked if there was a need to disclose the “husband-and-wife relationship” of Loh and Ms How.

The emails also included a query on the stakeholders of FMSS in the town council’s minutes, to which Ms Lim said that “we can/should enclose an (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority) search”.

But the court heard that the search was not done, and Mr Low did not ask Ms Lim about it.

Loh and Ms How both have stakes in FMSS, and in August 2011, they were respectively appointed AHTC’s secretary and deputy secretary.

When quizzed earlier on why it was it was not a concern that AHTC’s senior employees were also shareholders of FMSS, Mr Low told the court that it was “industry practice” that employees of town councils were cross-employed by their managing agents. He pointed out past media reports which showed that general managers of the Jurong and Aljunied Town Councils in 2011 were also directors of their respective managing agents.

“It is a conflict of interest that should be dealt with…but it can be mitigated,” said the MP for Aljunied GRC.

AHTC PUT IN VULNERABLE POSITION: LAWYER

At Wednesday’s hearing, Mr Singh put it to Mr Low that AHTC was “locked into” engaging FMSS as its managing agent, after appointing it in 2011 without calling for a tender.

“Based on your own evidence, you would have known that (once) FMSS was engaged…if FMSS was led by (and included) WP supporters, there was no way that any other (companies) would want to offer managing agent services to AHTC,” Mr Singh said.

Reminding Mr Low that he had said in his affidavit that the town council system and legislations surrounding it were political in nature, Mr Singh said Mr Low knew that FMSS would comprise “WP supporters”, and that there would no tender bids from the three companies if FMSS was going to be the managing agent.

Mr Singh was referring to CPG Facilities Management — Aljunied Town Council’s former managing agent — as well as Cushman and Wakefield, and EM Services, all of which Mr Low said in his affidavit had been managing People’s Action Party town councils.

At the 2012 tender called by AHTC for managing agent services, only FMSS placed a bid.

Mr Singh added: “It was all planned, such that whatever impression you may have wanted to create by the bidding process from April to Aug 2012 — the process that was given some semblance of credibility by appointing an auditor…was just to create a paper trail in circumstances where you knew that because you appointed FMSS in 2011, nobody was going to tender in 2012.”

Mr Low disagreed, and told Mr Singh that this was “only your assumption”.

Questioning Mr Low about AHTC’s “negotiating power” with FMSS, given that it was the only company that put in a bid, Mr Singh said that “FMSS had been given a gun to AHTC”.

Mr Low replied that if this was so, then the town council could “revert to direct management” without a managing agent.

Mr Singh then put it to Mr Low that because “of the path you (and your fellow MPs) chose, you put AHTC in a vulnerable position… (and) compromised the interest of residents”.

‘CONCERTED ATTEMPT’ TO HIDE PLAN

The postponement of the town council’s second meeting from late July to Aug 4, 2011 also took centrestage during Wednesday’s court proceedings.

An email chain on July 13 and 14, 2011 between Mr Low, Ms Lim, Ms How and Mr Yaw, where Ms Lim floated the idea of postponing the meeting, was referenced in court.

CPG was still employed by the town council as of July, and Mr Low said in the email that Aug 4 was a better date to appoint a new managing agent.

Asked why the meeting was postponed, Mr Low said he “was not comfortable discussing appointments in front of CPG”, which was due to exit the town council by August.

For about 20 minutes, both parties engaged in a back-and-forth about Mr Low’s sentiments about having CPG in the same meeting room, with the WP MP stating his “distrust” of the company “since day one”.

However, Mr Singh put it to him that CPG would have been given the impression that the town council would be moving to in-house management after it stepped down. 

“It would have crossed your mind, if CPG found out, they might say, ‘What are you doing? You have to tender!’,” Mr Singh said.

He charged that Mr Low and the other elected MPs had “wanted at all costs to avoid calling a tender”, stressing that if a tender were to be called, FMSS might not have been appointed AHTC’s managing agent.

He added: “You didn’t want CPG to learn about FMSS, because if they learnt about FMSS, they would have raised a red flag.

“This was a concerted attempt to hide the plan so that you can avoid a tender, so that nothing can stop you from engaging FMSS.”

Mr Low was taking the stand for the second day as the first defence witness. His cross-examination continues on Thursday. 

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