Controversy hits Nicole Seah over election donations

I think everbody, whether PAP or any opposition parties must come clean, otherwise, future election will see people lose trust in all parties.

To be fair to everyone (i.e. PAP and opposition), I like to know how come donation is solicited through paying into the bank account (is it NSP bank account or some individual's bank account)?

Here, I think it should be paid to NSP bank account and this should be audited under the Election Act.

Let have transparency applied to all, PAP and opposition.

I am surprised that the party did not forsee the transparency issues that may arise. This is a very basic issue that should have been handled properly right from the start.
Everybody knows that even setting up a company require strict procedures when it comes to operating the company's account so that there is no dispute between partners and also facilitate accountability to the relevant authorities for audit purposes. The expectation would be the same for any party intending to receive donation from the public and hoping one day to win an election and will have to manage a town council under its ward.

At least a lot of people are not blindly supporting her but asking for facts to be put on the table. That is a clear case of head over heart for Singaporeans. Kudos!

Assuming 10% of (NS) fans supported her & donated just $10 each into her personal a/c, that amounts to over $100,000 hard cash. ( She has more than 100,000 fans screaming for her action & close to 60,000 voters voted for NSP in Marine Parade GRC )

"I will be able to publish the bank statement in full as a show of transparency once this is over," Seah said, as quoted by the paper.

Some have suggested that she posts her bank's statement online. Indeed a good idea, only if she does that asap otherwise how can one ensure that the statement with actual deposits & withdrawals were not "tidied up". No one can compel her to do it, only her own sincerity will.

Slightly over 700 comments posted so far. NS has so far refused to comment, ( Learn from PM LKY, speak up when necessary & apologise when needed ) NS is indeed very calm or simply she is just very arrogant.

Assuming that half of the 700 comments are her supporters, what is 350 individuals compare to almost 60,000 voters or 100k fans.

" More brush strokes on it will end even darker "
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ?

"The longer you wait, the stain will remain"
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ?

Politics, thank-you but no thanks. LOL

In the spirit of transparency, perhaps Ms Seah should explain how the campaign money was used, since it is donated by the public. This will quell any misperception the public of her and the party.

Fair is Fair, everyone needs to have its own checks and balances. PAP,Oppositions and charitable organisations is answerable to monies coming from the public. Don,t be double standard.

Everything in Singapore is expensive. Even the process of standing for elections is also made expensive. You must have learnt by now. Just come clean. Obtain and present a true and fair view audit report otherwise 'dirty politics and mudslinging' will rear its head again. Do not choose to remain silent. Declare after the clean report that the error will not be committed again,open a new separate account if you want to collect donations and move on. Your integrity is more important in all aspects of Life, not just politics.

I was approached by NSP in a coffee shop in Tampines and they openly asked for a cash donation. Where is the accountability in that???

In the facebook, Nicole has just added that the fund raising is her own initiative.This even add more colour to the current situation. She is a member of NSP and how come the party as a whole is not driving such efforts. Her statement gives an impression that there are problems within the team and there is no teamwork among NSP. I maybe wrong but sounds like "it has nothing to do with the party and i am raising it on my own:. Is this correct procedure? What about the other NSP members in MarineParade- disappeared , no sound of them?

To be transparent, she could have ask NSP to open separate account and the account name can be set say "NSP - GE Donation", can even request the bank to open Account 1, Account 2, and so on so forth. But all must be in the names of NSP.

I thought NSP would have own corporate accountant or AGM to refer to? Why should she consult her parents? Did other NSP candidate know about such account and did they condone such arrangment?

In any case, the breach was already committed at the beginning. People and supporter donations should never be channelled into an individual's personal bank account.

So what if she has more fans than LKY, TPL etc.... Social media can both work for or against anyone.

NS, it is appropriate that you show the banking transactions to the public now! ....
In future, you should learn not to mixed personal matters with official matters....learn from mistake!

Your Party need to be kicked in the butt for allow this and for not giving proper advice and policy !

Sack the chairman!!!

There is nothing wrong for people to raise their concerns, it is a genuine concern. Even her own NSP supporters/fans have raised their concern in her facebook with regard to soliciting fund in this manner. Nicole and Aruldass were standing in election on behalf of NSP and not as independent candidates. Therefore, it is wierd that they did not request the funds to be channelled to NSP accounts. However, I could think of few reasons why it is managed this way. One, maybe during elections, the NSP decentralised the efforts of the constituency to the respective team. Therefore, they have to bear the responsibility to also cover the expenses. So each of the team is raising the fund to cover the expenses incurred in their constituency. The 2nd reason could be there are some disagreements among the NSP team. Maybe MarineParade and mountbatten spend more than what was allowed and therefore they had to raise the fund. NSP is not able to cover this unplanned expenses. 3rd reason could be there is a need for funding. Therefore to use the popular candidates such as Nicole and Aruldass to solict the funds as they may receive more support from the Fans. Whatever is the reason , it would have been good if Nicole Seah in her request to seek for fund state the reasons why personal account was used rather than NSP account . In the past few years, we have witnessed many cases of wrongful management of funds (even false seeking of funds) and therefore it is good that people are questioning when they have doubt. We should not be upset when the people question but rather the party should come and provide the reasons why donations are sought in this manner, basically channelling funds to individual accounts. I dont think anyone is questioning about the fund raising effort but it is the procedure that is being questioned.

For a person who can answer very well in front of the media, this incident needs to be explained. Otherwise, how can people vote for her. When anyone enters politics, he or she must know that everything will be under the microscope. That is why people are not comfortable with the GRC system. The GRC system can turn weak candidates to become an MP whether opposition side or not.

This is inapproriate for party donation to go straight into individual's account. NSP and Nicole Seah should quickly give an explanation on this.

I feel that perhaphs NSP or Nicole Seah could have like a breakdown of wht the money was used for and how much was used. This would then be able to put most Singaporeans who donated money mind at ease and would also deter future problems of exploition by other people.

My question, is it against the law to ask donation to be tranfer to her personal account??

If it is legal, what is the problem here.

If it is illegal, faster go report police.

Nicole must account for the money sent to her personal bank account. Only this will dispel any suspicions of her handling of the money. It will also improve the image of the opposition in general. All money matters must be above board otherwise you have no business to be running for public office.

i think NSP got to comment why they allow this thing to happen, If not, i do not think NSP will be held in high regard on the next GE irregardless of who the sent to contest, Goh Meng Seng... why are you keeping quiet