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This should be a more important piece of news for Singapore, NOT some extramartial affairs! The part on disbursement using personal bank account is a major lapse to me, as it may lead to misappropriation of public funds as well as promoting scamming activities (when recipients of such funds thought that it is normal to transact via personal accounts). S$1 million over-disbursement of grants by CAAS, weakness in controls at PA among lapses flagged by Auditor-General SINGAPORE: The over-disbursement of grants by S$1 million (US$754,000) by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and weaknesses in controls at the People’s Association (PA) were among the lapses flagged by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) in its report on Wednesday (Jul 19). The AGO’s audit report of public agencies in Singapore for the financial year 2022/2023 also focused on four COVID-19 grants – the Jobs Support Scheme, Rental Relief Framework (Rental Cash Grant), Rental Support Scheme and the SingapoRediscovers Vouchers scheme. The AGO audited 16 government ministries, eight organs of state, four government funds, eight statutory boards, four government-owned companies and two other accounts. The report noted lapses in procurement and weaknesses in controls at the PA. This includes lapses in the evaluation and award of three tenders. The scores given by the tender evaluation committee for certain sub-criteria could not be substantiated or were incorrectly assessed. For two of the tenders, the evaluation sub-criteria and scoring methodology were determined only after the tenders had closed. Three grassroots organisations had also awarded or renewed contracts with two debarred contractors. The AGO also found inappropriate money management practices for welfare assistance schemes at two grassroots organisations. One of these organisations transferred S$707,000 from April 2019 to May 2022 to personal bank accounts so staff could withdraw the money for cash disbursements to welfare assistance recipients at festive events. The money was transferred over seven instances, with amounts ranging from S$10,000 to S$200,000. For the second grassroots organisation, S$334,500 was transferred from July 2020 to November 2021 to a staff member’s personal bank account. This was used to reimburse hawkers and merchants for their claims under a voucher assistance scheme. This money was transferred over 46 instances, in amounts ranging from S$500 to S$21,200. According to the PA, these practices were implemented due to operational needs, said the AGO report. It added that this practice of transferring grassroots organisations' money to personal bank accounts was “inappropriate”. “While AGO’s test checks did not find any evidence of money being lost or misappropriated in the above two cases, such practices pose significant risk of loss or misappropriation,” said the report. “It would also be unfair for the staff to bear the consequences should the money be unaccounted for during the process.” For two community service projects that had been in operation for more than 10 years, the grassroots organisations did not enter into formal agreements with the external service partners, setting out the terms and conditions of the partnership arrangement. In a separate press release, PA said it takes the AGO findings very seriously and is committed to resolving and improving its governance, procurement and oversight processes.

Ownself check ownself 2019 edition Auditor-General finds lapses in procurement, contracts and IT controls in public agencies Mata involved! Police reports made after AGO highlights lapses Police begin probe over irregular quotations received by MND and URA after AGO report