SINGAPORE — Singapore Athletics (SA) has set up a board of inquiry (BOI) to investigate five of its officials and staff over a WhatsApp conversation that was leaked to the media and athletics fraternity last month.

A photo of the chat posted on Facebook by former chief executive officer Ong Yeok Phee on June 18 appeared to show vice-president (training and selection) Govindasamy Balasekaran instructing staff to “get good evidence” so that disciplinary action could be taken against local coaches Margaret Oh and David Yeo.

Balasekaran wrote: “Just get good evidence so we can give it back to P (president Ho Mun Cheong). And force him to get disciplinary action on Margaret n David (Yeo, pole vaulter Rachel Yang’s coach). He will then shut up as they are (his) favourites.”

The convening of the BOI was announced by SA president Ho Mun Cheong on Wednesday (July 5) in an e-mail to SA’s affiliates and management committee (MC) as well as Sport Singapore (SportSG) and the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC).

The BOI will comprise three SA MC members – race walking chairman Leong Lee San, chairman (officials) Joe Yap and tug of war chairman Terry Tan, who will head the board. 

The trio have been tasked with gathering information about the incident and investigating the conduct of at least five SA officials and secretariat staff in the chat.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION POSSIBLE 

They include Balasekaran, technical director Volker Hermann, general manager Jaime Cheong, high performance manager Ong Wan Xin and senior executive of sports development and performance Shalindran Sathiyanesan.

TODAY was unable to contact the five individuals for comment.

Following its investigations, the BOI will present its findings to the MC. If the MC decides that further action needs to be taken against any individual, a disciplinary committee will be formed to recommend “appropriate and corresponding penalties in accordance with the SA constitution”.

The e-mail also explained that the BOI’s investigations will centre on whether “there were breaches of proper and appropriate conduct by the parties concerned”, and if these actions “had undermined the best of interests of the SA and the Singapore national team preparing for the SEA Games”.

Mr Ho told TODAY that the BOI will commence its investigations immediately and downplayed suggestions that it would disrupt SA’s preparations for next month’s SEA Games.

“It’s an ugly episode so we have to do the investigation quickly,” said the 68-year-old.  “We have no choice but to start now. The issue was out in the open and people were waiting for us to take the next step and so we convened the BOI.

“The BOI is simply in charge of getting the facts, so it shouldn’t (affect our SEA Games preparation), especially if the parties involved are innocent.

INVESTIGATION IS INTERNAL

Mr Ho added: “There is no timeline set for the BOI to finish their investigations as they have to gather all the information from the various parties. 

“We cannot predict how long this will take but if needed we will set up a disciplinary committee after they come back to us with their findings.

“Of course we hope that they finish as early as possible because we want to resolve this issue and try to move the association forward.”

Asked why the BOI was made up of members of SA’s MC instead of individuals independent from the association, Mr Ho said such investigations are usually carried out internally.

He highlighted a BOI comprising SA MC members which investigated allegations that former SA general manager and ex-national discus thrower James Wong was involved in irregular practices three years ago. 

Mr Wong was eventually cleared of all wrongdoing by the BOI.

“Previously, when we set up a BOI to investigate James, the members were also chosen from within the MC,” said Ho. 

“Even our government sets up ministerial committees which are made up of ministers to look into matters.”

However, Mr Ho said that members of the disciplinary committee, should there be a need for one, would come from outside the SA. “For the BOI, we can use our own members because it’s just fact finding,” said Ho. 

“But when it comes to the disciplinary committee, we’ll get members who are from outside the association.

“We will also consult SportSG and SNOC for their advice. They may want to have representatives on the committee.”