SINGAPORE: Investigations, including by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing or preferential treatment given to two ministers who rented state properties for their personal use. It emerged in early May that Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam and
SINGAPORE: Investigations, including by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau , found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing or preferential treatment given to two ministers who rented state properties for their personal use.
There was also no disclosure of privileged information in the process of the rental transactions, and no evidence to suggest any abuse of position by the ministers for personal gain, said CPIB in the report.The report detailed that Mr Shanmugam pays S$26,500 a month for the rental of 26 Ridout Road, and Dr Balakrishnan paid S$19,000 a month for the rental of 31 Ridout Road. Dr Balakrishnan's rent was revised to S$20,000 in 2022 due to"prevailing market conditions".
There would have been an actual conflict of interest if Mr Shanmugam made decisions that affect his rental of 26 Ridout Road, said Mr Teo in his report, also released on Wednesday."Minister Shanmugam had thus recognised the potential conflict of interest, duly declared it to Senior Minister Teo, and taken effective steps to eliminate this potential conflict and to prevent any actual conflict from arising," Mr Teo's report read.
According to CPIB, the availability of 26 and 31 Ridout Road was made known to the general public. Both had"For Lease" signs displayed at their gates, and the latter was listed on the State Property Information Online website. In January 2018, Mr Shanmugam appointed a property agent to represent him for the rental transaction of 26 Ridout Road, and during a site visit, he noticed thick and overgrown vegetation on an empty slope of land adjacent to the property, the CPIB report said.
But according to SLA, if Mr Shanmugam was to maintain the adjacent land at his own cost, the adjacent land would have to be included in the tenancy of 26 Ridout Road, the report read. A neighbouring unit was tenanted at S$26,000 per month. Mr Shanmugam's final negotiated rent amount was S$26,500, which met the minimum rental to be achieved by SLA.
In June 2018, Mrs Shanmugam signed the tenancy agreement of nine years, broken up into three terms of three years. After the first three-year term, the tenancy was renewed in June 2021 for a second three-year term, at the same S$26,500 per month. With the additional cleared land at 26 Ridout Road, SLA valued the minimum rental of the property at S$26,500.
The rental of a black-and-white bungalow is usually less than for a typical Good Class Bungalow in the same location or of the same size, his report noted. The managing agent named an asking rent of S$19,000, and Mrs Balakrishnan agreed, but asked that essential repair works and upgrading of the toilet be included.
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