The wrongs of commercialism / capitalism -- yes, in Singapore as well

For the past few years I have been writing about the wrongs and misdeeds committed under the US capitalist model. That has not been to say that there have been no wrongs in Singapore. Over the past 6 to 8 months a few stories of financial mismanagement have emerged.

The latest has been the NKF story, where the CEO of the National Kidney Foundation {actually a private foundation, not a Government body} has been found to be taking extravagant liberties with the amount of pay he deserves [he did not steal any money or commit any fraud ; he did, however, convince the Board to agree to a substantial {legitimate} pay package for him !]. That has significantly shaken Singaporeans' confidence in the most successful charity organisation here.{Comparisons have been drawn with The United Way of America which, too, suffered a significant loss of public confidence in the 90's}. Thousands of Singaporeans withdrew their monthly donations and the headquarters of the NKF was mildly defaced by an early morning act of vandalism. However, the Government did step in quickly and the Board and the CEO of NKF offered their resignations. The Government has appointed an interim CEO and has promised a full investigation in the affairs of the NKF.

Before NKF was the China Aviation Oil story, which broke out in December 2004, where the CEO of the Singapore office of CAO had been found to have indulged in over-extended speculation in oil futures, causing the company to file for bankruptcy protection. CAO has been Singapore's biggest financial scandal since Nick Leeson and Barings Bank, when the initial estimates pointed to losses of $550million. CAO was the Enron of Singapore.

Accord Customer Care Solutions and Informatics have been found to have grossly overstated revenues and profits. Citiraya is under criminal investigation {which has extended to include officers of some of Citiraya's customers in the Electronics sector} for diversion of electronic waste products which were supposed to have been recycled by it.

Other cases have included the failure to declare cross-holdings in various companies by the Khoo family {Khoo Teck Puat, #108 on Forbe's list of the World's Richest People, 2004, was also known as the largest individual shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank}, the case of 3 officers of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation who were fined for insider trading in Japan, the misappropriation of more than $70million by a finance manager with Asia Pacific Breweries and default by Asia Pulp and Paper on $13.9billion in debts.

Corporate Governance and Accountability are going to be very sensitive topics in Singapore for some time now.