Businesses receiving Covid-19 payouts must be made accountable for them

In a joint statement released on 11 Jun, by the Ministry of Finance and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), it was announced that almost 95,000 employers would receive over S$450 million in payouts this month under the Wage Credit Scheme. This was simply the latest of a myriad of financial assistance schemes the government had recently rolled out to help both individuals and businesses with the economic crunch brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, good intentions aside, these financial assistance schemes have raised an important question. Are these businesses being responsible with these payouts?

Recently, in a Straits Times forum letter submitted by Mr Danny Quah Wei Sheng, he asserted his belief that businesses owed a moral duty by being completely transparent with their usage of such payouts. He added that these businesses should, of their own accord, publish special accounts detailing their use of these funds so that they would be open for public scrutiny.

Netizens have also taken to social media to express their concerns with regards to the potential misuse of such government-funded assistance.

One netizen expressed his fears about how these funds would be withheld from low-level employees and simply disseminated amongst the more highly paid ones.

Others simply stated how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) preferred to simply close down rather than to continually experience losses amidst this pandemic alluding to the inefficiency of such measures.