The younger son of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Yang, is questioning the salary of Ho Ching, his estranged sister-in-law. Ho Ching has been the Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings since 2002. She first joined Temasek Holdings as a Director in January 2002 then became its Executive Director in May 2002 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2004.
Ho Ching is the wife of the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong.
Temasek Holdings posted its returns yesterday. The returns showed that its one year return was 1.49%. The returns are above the headline inflation rate but slightly below the core inflation rate of 1.7%. Temasek Holdings’ results showed a rise in net portfolio value from $308 billion to $313 billion.
Referring to the posting of results by the sovereign wealth fund, Mr Lee said, “no surprise that it still didn’t disclose Ho Ching’s salary,” and asked, “Why is it such a big secret?” Mr Lee linked an old article from The Independent (TISG) to his Facebook post.
https://www.facebook.com/LeeHsienYangSGP/posts/2380380958868666?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARD0lGmy0sV7TyD59BhV8RwgcHoz6NkKu2nGJseQ4YkeSD5EB1uGq8hqdtYBktAffklYJbcSUMlwkGkQIrXt06APO9vt4S0UiBQgiRQo3INNPN8Lj3FI25LuAExIhdH6PgZ_UdZU4SU0xL0xJw8sVR-2Di6hsfdrdFhNCfaTd7XMIfvMmFeGwN7YHT__TCMbDCB4Rrps5S9tWWpSSwXqvSzJP1swZkBWypWca5AT2-sLubXPNW8Cp8dPZYHkADkQc-xoqEmNajeNxbXGWsSHpO_iWBb_OhZeHqaX54La6RLAhnWPLkp-UbpZwoQhw30sCX_oPgP9rqqnZ60xhBTGCPL7eEAAUw4PEOMt&__tn__=-R
TISG had reported on a blog post by blogger Phillip Ang where he said Temasek Holdings should be transparent. Ang explained, “this is because Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd and Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) are considered to be private sector companies”.
His post speculated how much Ho Ching could be earning based upon the salaries of other top earners in the industry, adding, “One thing for certain, Ho is unlikely to be paid lower than CEOs under her charge”.
Ang added: “Last year, the highest paid GLC CEO was Piyush Gupta of DBS Group who took home $10.3 million.”
According to Ang, before Charles Goodyear was hired to be CEO of Temasek Holdings in 2009, he was already earning a salary of $54 million at BHP Billiton. Ang then said, “Logically, Charles must have been offered more than his $54 million salary to quit BHP Billiton”.
He then calculated, “conservatively assuming Ho was earning $54 million then and had worked without any break, this works out to $147,945 a day or about 25 times of the PM’s salary.” After looking at the doubling portfolio value of Temasek Holdings, Ang speculated that Ho earns “about $300,000 a day”.
In 2017, Mr Lee accused Ho Ching of overstepping her role and acting as a contact for the Prime Minister’s Office in lending items that belonged to Lee Kuan Yew to the National Heritage Board.
Lee Hsien Yang raises serious questions about Ho Ching after NHB’s clarifications
Mr Lee said that Madam Ho Ching helped herself to a number of Lee Kuan Yew’s papers on 5 Feb 2015, when his father was admitted gravely ill into the ICU. He said that it is “deeply troubling that someone can represent the PMO despite holding no official position.”
In October last year, Mr Lee revealed that PM Lee had not made any effort to reach out to resolve matters in private. His comments followed PM Lee’s own remarks that the family feud remains unresolved and that the trio have not communicated recently.
Describing the family feud as being in “abeyance,” PM Lee said, “I’m not sure if it’s solved,” before adding that he was still saddened by the dispute over the siblings’ family home, but expressed hope that relations with his siblings will improve in future, when “emotions have subsided.”
He added: “Perhaps one day, when emotions have subsided, some movement will be possible.”
Taking issue with his brother’s words, Lee Hsien Yang hit back: “Our brother says he is unsure that the feud is solved. Notwithstanding his public statements, Hsien Loong has made no attempt to reach out to us to resolve matters in private.
“Meanwhile, the Attorney General is busy prosecuting Hsien Loong’s nephew for his private correspondence. The AGC’s letters make repeated reference to the family feud.” -/TISG