Ridout Road review demonstrates 'stringent standards' set by PAP: PM Lee

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday (Jul 3) that the review into the rental of state properties by two Cabinet ministers was a demonstration of how the People’s Action Party (PAP) is determined to uphold its “stringent” standards.

“This accounting in Parliament is not just to resolve the issue of the rentals on to black and white properties in Ridout Road, important as that is. It's also a demonstration of how the PAP is determined to uphold the standards, which it has set itself from the beginning in 1959,” said Mr Lee.

“This government has not and will never tolerate any compromise or departure from the stringent standards of honesty, integrity and incorruptibility that Singaporeans expect of us.”

Mr Lee had on May 17 tasked the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to conduct a formal investigation into any possible corruption or wrongdoing when Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan each rented black-and-white bungalows, which are state properties.

Last week, the report issued by CPIB concluded that there had been no abuse of power or conflict of interest resulting in the ministers gaining any unfair advantage or privileges.

Mr Lee had also asked Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean to conduct a separate review in order to address wider potential process or policy issues beyond the scope of CPIB’s investigation. That review also cleared the two ministers of any improper conduct. 

During a debate on the issue in Parliament on Monday, Mr Lee said that he had "every confidence" in the ministers and the system, but thought it would be best to get Singapore's anti-graft body to establish definitively if there was any corruption or wrongdoing.

“Why CPIB? Because CPIB is independent. It has built up a strong reputation as an anti-corruption outfit and it has the necessary legal powers guaranteed in the Constitution to carry out a thorough investigation,” he said.

“Everybody in Singapore knows what it means when CPIB invites you to "lim kopi" (drink coffee). And they can invite anybody - ministers, officials, businessmen, ordinary Singaporeans - whoever it is necessary for them to interview in order to establish the facts and the truth, and whether there's culpability.”

The investigation and review also went beyond criminal conduct to look at whether there had been preferential treatment enjoyed by the ministers, whether any privileged information had been disclosed to them, whether the ministers had abused their position in the process of the rentals, or if there had been any other misconduct or impropriety.

Some Members of Parliament had questioned if Mr Teo was suitable to lead the review as he was one of the ministers informed of the rental transaction when it took place in 2018.  

Mr Shanmugam had instructed his ministry to go to then Senior Minister of State of Law Indranee Rajah in the event that any matter had to be referred to the minister. If any matter had to go beyond Ms Indranee, she was to approach Mr Teo. However, there was no matter raised by SLA to MinLaw about the rental.

Mr Lee said that Mr Teo was the “backstop” and nothing about the rental was raised to him, so he did not consider Mr Teo to have been involved in the transaction.

“I appointed him to show that I had every intention to maintain the government's and the PAP’s longstanding, high and stringent standards of integrity and propriety. I wanted to put my most experienced, most qualified, for this purpose, most capable person on the job,” said Mr Lee.

On why he had asked a minister to conduct the review, rather than the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Mr Lee said that the courts are the arbiter of what is legal or illegal, but that was not all that was at stake here.

“Ethics and standards of propriety - those are the prime minister's responsibility. I have to set the standards of what's ethical, what's proper - I cannot outsource them,” he said. 

Based on the CPIB findings, Mr Teo’s review then confirmed that there was no conflict of interest or unfair advantage given to the ministers, and all procedures were complied with, said Mr Lee.

“The ministers, Minister Shanmugam and Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, have done nothing wrong, and they retain my full confidence,” he said.

Mr Lee also said that where ministers choose to live is a personal matter, provided “all procedures are followed”. They are paid a “clean wage”, and it’s up to them to decide how to save or spend it, said the Prime Minister.

“Therefore, where ministers decide to live, whether they want to rent, whether they want to buy, these are personal choices. And thus, I see nothing wrong with ministers renting properties from SLA, or for that matter from a private landlord, provided it's properly done, and all procedures are followed,” he added.

Following Mr Lee’s speech, MPs rose to ask more questions, including the Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh (WP - Aljunied) and Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai.

“I don't think many would disagree that from this episode, there is a perception of an amount of conflict of interest and unfairness in the process of renting the two bungalows,” said Mr Leong.

Although there was no outright misconduct of any public servant, the result was that there was a perception of possible misconduct.

“From this episode, would you … commit that from now on, the code of conduct (COC) of the PAP government will be applied more stringently, learning from this episode?” he asked the Prime Minister.

“If this episode doesn't show any shortcoming … in the application of the COC - this is a kind of standard we cannot expect from the PAP government, we will take it as that.”

Mr Lee said that Mr Leong alleges there was a perception of wrongdoing even after government ministers had spent more than five hours in the House explaining why there were no actual or potential conflicts of interest in the rental transactions.

“Therefore, when he says the PAP code of conduct, do I intend for it to be stringently applied, what he really means is: Should I or should I not allow ministers to rent GCBs (Good Class Bungalows) or to rent black-and-whites. My answer is, I do not object to ministers renting black-and-whites,” said Mr Lee.

“They live within their salary, they live within their means … They comply with the laws, they do things properly. And most importantly, they continue to do their duties as the minister and to serve constituents and to serve Singaporeans.”

Mr Lee added that there is a phrase in the ministers’ swearing-in text which states “in all things to be a true and faithful minister”.

“That’s what we expect of all PAP ministers,” said Mr Lee.