SINGAPORE: The Opposition Workers' Party (WP) has yet to answer basic questions on areas of concern flagged by the Auditor-General's Office on the management of its accounts at Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), said Member of Parliament Hri Kumar Nair on Thursday (Aug 20).

In a political dialogue organised by the National University of Singapore Society on Tuesday, WP representative Gerald Giam said AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim, as well as the party's elected MPs who are town councillors, "all spoke, all explained" various aspects of the AGO report during a two-day debate in Parliament.

"We have explained every point that has been brought up which demands an explanation and we have spared no effort in that," Mr Giam, who is a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, said.

"Good grief! Is he serious?" wrote Mr Hri Kumar in a Facebook note he titled "AHPETC - Why the silence?". He highlighted seven basic questions that he said the WP has not answered:

• Why hasn’t the WP carried out any independent investigation into the many areas of concern raised by the Auditor-General’s Office?
  
  
• Why did WP hide information from its own auditors?
  
  
• Why hasn’t the WP asked its friends in FMSS (FM Solution and Services) and FMSI (FM Solutions & Integrated Services), to whom they gave multi-million dollar contracts, to open their books for scrutiny?
  
  
• Why hasn’t any independent auditor hired by the WP been prepared to issue clean, unqualified audit reports on the AHPETC accounts since WP took over AHPETC in 2011?
  
  
• Why is WP refusing MND’s offer to pay the Government grants to AHPETC on condition that an independent accountant safeguards the use of those funds, when WP’s own lawyers accept that the MND can impose conditions and the High Court found that MND’s conditions were reasonable?
  
  
• If WP claims to be transparent, why, as the High Court found, did its chairman Ms Sylvia Lim suppress facts and make a false statement to Parliament, and why did WP MP Pritam Singh say that he will not answer to Parliament?
  
  
• Why has WP done nothing to determine whether any public funds are lost or misappropriated?

Mr Hri Kumar added: "The WP says that it accepts that the AGO is professional and independent. It says that it accepts the High Court judgment. But 6 months on, we are no closer to knowing the truth. Significantly, the WP has avoided stating categorically that no public funds have been lost, and no damage suffered. How could it, given its own conduct?"

He said even though the WP has submitted qualified audited accounts for FY2013, "the crucial fact remains that AHPETC’s own auditors were unable to verify their accounts for the third year running".

Mr Hri Kumar said the AGO's conclusion stands that “until the weaknesses are addressed, there can be no assurance that AHPETC’s accounts are accurate and reliable, or that public funds are properly spent, accounted for and managed".

"The WP MPs know what they need to do to put things at AHPETC right," he wrote. He also reiterated a point he made in Parliament in February that the WP "must commission a thorough forensic investigation, get its friends in FMSS and FMSI to open their books, clean up the accounts and sue to recover any losses suffered".

"The WP has lawyers, and it knows it can be done. But the WP does not want to do it. Why not?"