Workers’ Party underlines need to pose questions in Parliament regarding failed crypto giant FTX

In the wake of cryptocurrency exchange company FTX filing for bankruptcy earlier this month, Workers’ Party MPs have filed Parliamentary Questions concerning the matter. Several WP Members of Parliament have filed questions for the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office for upcoming sittings from Nov 28 to 30.

Assoc Prof Jamus Lim wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Nov 23) that MPs have “historically been limited” concerning how they’ve been able to pose parliamentary questions about investments by sovereign wealth funds. “Nevertheless, given the importance of such questions in the public interest, the #workersparty felt that it was necessary to pose some questions on the episode, while respecting the limitations of what we are able to credibly ask via PQs,” he added. 

“In general, we’ve been told by the clerks that such queries must respect standing order 19(1), which states that questions have to fall within ministers’ official functions to be admissible; since the government has repeatedly insisted that both GIC and Temasek operate independently from the government, questions about the plans, processes, and targets of GIC/Temasek cannot be entertained.”

From Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC):

From Mr Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC):

From Assoc Prof Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC):

From Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC):

FTX, once the third-largest crypto exchange in the world, filed for bankruptcy in the United States on Nov 11. It’s possible that its estimated one million customers and investors—including Temasek Holdings, owned by the government of Singapore— stand to lose everything. FTX’s failure is one of the highest-profile crypto blowups so far.

Forbes published a list of FTX investors who have the most to lose if the company can’t be saved. It said that Temasek has a one per cent stake in FTX and that its estimated amount invested is US$205 million (S$281 million).

Temasek Holdings issued a statement on Nov 17 saying it will be writing down its investment in FTX worth US$275 million (S$377 million) regardless of the outcome of the firm’s bankruptcy protection filing. “The cost of our investment in FTX was 0.09% of our net portfolio value of S$403 billion as of 31 March 2022.

There have been misperceptions that our investment in FTX is an investment into cryptocurrencies. To clarify, we currently have no direct exposure in cryptocurrencies,” Temasek said. /TISG

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