SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has asserted that Cabinet Ministers K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan have done nothing wrong in choosing to rent the state-owned colonial bungalows along Ridout Road and in the way they went about securing their tenancies.
Speaking in Parliament after the House discussed the Ridout Road controversy for more than five hours today (3 July), Mr Lee said that it is not wrong for ministers to rent properties from SLA or a private landlord if all the procedures are adhered to, and the transaction is completed properly.
He added that since Ministers in Singapore are paid a “clean wage” and do not get perks like housing, he holds that deciding where to live is each Minister’s choice.
Vouching for his Ministers, the head of government said: “I had every confidence that my ministers and the SLA officials who dealt with them would have done the right things and handled the rentals properly.”
Mr Lee also revealed that he tasked the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to investigate the matter after the two ministers formally – K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan asked him to conduct an independent probe.
He explained, “I decided that, notwithstanding my confidence in them and in the system, it would be best for me to task CPIB to establish definitively if there was any corruption or wrongdoing.”
Asserting that he selected CPIB to conduct the probe because it is independent and has the powers needed to conduct a thorough investigation, Mr Lee quipped: “Everybody in Singapore knows what it means when CPIB invites you to ‘lim kopi’.”
As for why he asked Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean to conduct a separate probe, Mr Lee said: “I wanted to put my most experienced, qualified and capable person on the job… I appointed him to show I had every intention to maintain the Government’s and PAP’s longstanding high and stringent standards of integrity and propriety.”
Mr Lee also addressed concerns that Mr Teo was not the right person to conduct the probe as he was aware of Mr Shanmugam’s intention to rent the state-owned bungalow in 2018 and was kept informed of the transaction. The ruling party leader disagreed with this as Mr Teo was not involved in the rental process.
Asserting that he is the one who sets the tone on ethical behaviour and that he is the person who is ultimately accountable – the one who has to justify his position to Parliament and answer to Singaporeans at the polls, Mr Lee said:
“I have to set the standards of what’s ethical, what’s proper. I cannot outsource them… An ethics adviser cannot be the one to decide and to advise the prime minister whether ministers acted with a propriety or not.”
Affirming that both his Ministers continue to retain his full confidence, Mr Lee stressed that the parliamentary session was not just to resolve this saga but also to show how the ruling party upholds standards. He said:
“The 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.”