Teo Ho Pin presses WP's Sylvia Lim for answers

[UPDATE: 17 May, 8:50am: including Teo's response after WP's reaction]

Why won't Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim answer questions?

That was the reaction of Teo Ho Pin, coordinating chairman of the People's Action Party's Town Councils, Thursday evening after Lim issued a statement in the afternoon in response to questions raised by Teo.

"I asked serious questions about the financial probity of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, which Ms Sylvia Lim chairs," said Teo in a statement to media. "Ms Lim has not answered a single question I asked."

"Why is Ms Lim reluctant to answer questions? What is she afraid of?" he asked.

Worker's Party Chairman Sylvia Lim has challenged Dr Teo Ho Pin to make a report to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) if he believes that the WP had mismanaged the Town Council.

In a press release in terse response to PAP Town Council chairman Dr Teo's reference on Thursday to "troubling facts" in the "questionably close relationship" that the WP has with FM Solutions and Services (FMSS), its managing agent for Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).

"If the Minister, Dr Teo or the Ministry believe there was any wrongdoing in WP's management of the Town Council, we invite them to make a report to the CPIB or other relevant agencies to investigate the matter, rather than to make these suggestions and insinuations," read the statement.

"We assure these agencies of our full cooperation."

Lim also said that it was "most regrettable" and "disappointing" that Dr Teo and Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan had chosen to "distract the public" by "casting aspersions on WP's management of the Town Council", the allegations made by Dr Teo had already been addressed in Parliament or via media statements issued by AHPETC.

Lim said that Dr Teo's question on why WP had chosen to appoint a Managing Agent to run its Town Council "should be clear" to him, as almost all PAP Town Councils also appoint Managing Agents.

She also accused Dr Teo of misrepresenting her response in Parliament during a debate with Khaw over Managing Agent rates.

"He said that I was “not sure of the unit rates paid by AHTC to FMSS”. I am surprised, as this is clearly different from what was correctly recorded in the draft Hansard which all MPs had received by Tuesday 14 May. I said I needed to double-check the prices the Minister quoted on property units because I thought there might be some errors in the prices that he mentioned, and that we needed to ensure that the comparisons were made on the same basis," clarified Lim.

The press release even included a table charting the distinctions between the controversial AIM transaction and WP's appointment of FMSS, pictured below.

WP's statement comes as the opposition party's latest salvo in the war of words taking place in Parliament over the AIM saga.

PAP(People's Action Party) Town Council coordinating chairman Teo Ho Pin had earlier attacked the Workers' Party's (WP's) relationship with its town council managing agent.

In a 13-paragraph statement he posted on his Facebook page, Ho repeated details raised by National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan in closing remarks on Monday in Parliament on “troubling facts” and the questionably close relationship that the WP has with its managing agent for Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), FM Solutions and Services (FMSS).

Among other things, Ho said AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim, who is also WP chairman, needs to explain why her town council "gave more than $26 million of public funds in contracts to close associates", and why it paid "significantly higher than normal" management fees than Aljunied Town Council's previous managing agent.

Ho also accused Lim of "trying to obfuscate the public with wrong calculations on how much FMSS charged AHTC", in reference to an exchange between the MND and the town council, where the two disputed the rates that were paid by AHPETC to FMSS.

Delving further into the exchange of words on rates paid, Ho said even at Lim's raised managing agent rate of $7.58 per unit, after including commercial property, as opposed to her initial figure of $7.01, which only factored in residential units, the MND said the contract value over a three-year period would amount to $15.8 million, short of the $16.8 million Lim declared to the Housing Development Board in 2012.

"Where is the missing $1 million?" he asked, also probing further into the status of FMSS's owners, husband-and-wife team How Weng Fan and Danny Loh, with the town council.

"Do they draw salaries as employees of the Town Council (being General Manager and Deputy Secretary respectively)?" he asked. "As Mr Loh and Ms How do business with the TC through FMSS which they own and profit — do they get paid twice?" Ho further mentioned that the town council could have employed How directly to manage the town in the way Hougang Town Council had done, instead of forming a separate company.

"The WP MPs in AHTC owe it to the residents of Aljunied and Hougang, as well as Singaporeans in general, to give full answers to (the questions he raised)," concluded Ho.

Ho's statement follows a fiery debate on Monday evening in Parliament between Khaw and WP chairman Sylvia Lim over a controversial sale of the PAP Town Councils' computer software system to a party-owned company called Action Information Management (AIM).

The exchange eventually saw Khaw turning the tables on WP, drawing scrutiny on the AHPETC's transactions with FMSS from the time the party took over Aljunied GRC in May 2011.

Related articles:
Khaw Boon Wan and Sylvia Lim clash in fiery debate over AIM deal
Khaw defends town councils' political links
MND: No misuse of funds in AIM saga