When Parliament sits on Monday, MPs will discuss the rental of two state-owned bungalows in Ridout Road by two ministers.
The matter had come under scrutiny over the past few weeks, when it emerged that Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan and Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam had separately rented 31 Ridout Road and 26 Ridout Road, respectively.
Opposition politician Kenneth Jeyaretnam first wrote about the bungalows in a blog post on May 6.
In response to media queries on the issue, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), which manages state properties, said on May 12 that both ministers had rented the properties through a bidding process.
But in the weeks that followed, the matter continued to pique public interest.
With the properties managed by SLA, some questioned whether it was appropriate for the ministers to have rented them.
More allegations were made by various websites, with claims that the ministers had cut down trees illegally and got SLA to pay for work done on a car porch, among other things.
There was also speculation online about the circumstances under which the ministers came to rent the properties. Was there any conflict of interest? Did either of them receive preferential treatment?
Acknowledging the discussions, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on May 23 that a review into the issue was to be conducted by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, with the findings to be made public before July's Parliament sitting.
1 CPIB PROBE
PM Lee directed the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to investigate the matter on May 17.
It was tasked to look into whether there was any corruption or criminal wrongdoing, and it concluded after a month-long investigation that there was none.
This story is from the July 02, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the July 02, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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