Eight civil servants have been referred to the police after a review of their property transactions, Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing told parliament on Tuesday.
“The police will look into the facts independently, and due process will be followed,” said Chan, who is also Minister-in-charge of the Public Service and Minister for Defence.
He was responding to questions filed by members of parliament, after a recent study suggested that some civil servants had purchased properties close to future MRT stations, before the locations were publicly announced.
A total of nine Members of Parliament filed questions on the working paper released by a United States-based research organisation, which found a statistical association between civil servants and the homes they purchased near planned MRT stations prior to public announcements regarding the stations.
Most of the questions focused on the safeguards in place and whether they are effective in preventing the misuse of non-public information.
In his reply, Mr Chan said the PSD had identified officers in agencies involved in rail planning who made property purchases between 2007 and 2014 near locations that were subsequently announced as MRT stations.
He added that PSD had extended its review beyond 2011 and through 2014 as a matter of prudence, as many new MRT station locations were announced in the years after 2011.
“For each transaction, we examined the available records. This included the officer’s role at that time, whether the officer had access to relevant non-public information, the timing and circumstances of the transaction, and other relevant information available to us,” the coordinating minister said.
The Government reviewed property transactions made by 191 officers, with further checks still ongoing, Mr Chan revealed.
He added that eight officers have had their cases referred to the police as further examination is warranted.
“This could be due to the specific circumstances surrounding the purchase, or that we currently do not have adequate information to exclude the cases from further review,” the coordinating minister explained.
However, he also pointed out that a referral does not mean that wrongdoing has been established.
“The police will look into the facts independently, and due process will be followed,” Mr Chan added.
He also cautioned against assuming that officers with access to non-public information had misused that information.
But, where specific information gives reasonable grounds for concerns, the cases will be looked into, Mr Chan assured the House. ASIAONE
