Former Aljunied Hougang Town Council (AHTC) Chairwoman Sylvia Lim had a plan to replace the former managing agent of the town council, CPG Facilities Management, according to Senior Counsel Davinder Singh.

Davinder pursued this line of questioning during the second day of his cross-examination of Lim.

Lim denied this, and said that the incoming Workers' Party MPs had to make decisions for the benefit of residents.

Communication between How Weng Fan and the elected-MPs in early May

Davinder argued that as early as May 9, 2011, two days after WP's victory in Aljunied, two things had been decided:

• WP would be using a managing agent for the town council, instead of managing it directly themselves.
• How Weng Fan would be involved in the running of the managing agent in some way.

How, the majority owner of FM Solutions & Services (FMSS), is another defendant.

To back this up, he pointed to an email sent by former WP Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang on May 9, to the other elected MPs.

How was also copied in this email, which followed a meeting by the elected WP MPs. Low and the other MPs had discussed using a managing agent instead of relying on direct management of the town council.

Davinder asked if How's name was brought up as a managing agent during the meeting.

In response, Lim said that the possibility of appointing someone was discussed, including How, but nothing had been confirmed.

Davinder then asked why How was copied in that email.

Lim replied that as the Secretary of Hougang Town Council (HTC) at the time, How needed to know about certain updates, including the fact that ATC and HTC would be merged to form AHTC.

Davinder: How assumed she would be involved

Davinder said:

"If she didn’t know before this email that she would be connected to a managing agent, this email would give her the impression that she would soon be out of a job."

Lim disagreed, saying she couldn't have known what How was thinking.

Davinder made the point that as a valued employee of HTC who had worked closely with Low for many years, it was a "reasonable assumption" that the May 9 email suggested to How she would be involved with the new managing agent.

In reply, Lim said:

"Any appointment of a new Managing Agent was contingent on CPG’s position whether they were willing to continue or not. But we couldn't not prepare (a contingency), for the sake of the residents."

Takeover of ATC staff

Davinder referred to a letter sent by How on May 13, 2011, which was also forwarded by email to Jeffrey Chua.

At the time, Chua was Secretary of Aljunied Town Council (ATC) and also a member of CPG.

In this letter, How asked Chua for the particulars and contact number of the ATC staff, in relation to concern over retaining them under the WP's management.

Lim said she had seen this letter, after it was sent out.

Davinder said that Lim and How were acting on the basis that they would take over the management of ATC.

He added that this meant that before CPG had expressed its intention to leave, it had already been informed that they would be out.

Lim disagreed, and said that they would instead refer any staff to the new managing agent.

Davinder said that a decision had been made to set up a new managing agent and have it replace CPG, without talking to them.

He said:

"That decision was implemented with promptitude with the discussion with Ms How to set up the company and to move quickly to inform Chua about the offer to take over the staff, and the upscaling of the software. All done before even talking to CPG, talking to AIM or receiving any notification from them."

Said Lim:

"I disagree, Mr Singh, with your characterisation."

Waiver of tender

Davinder then questioned Lim about WP's decision to waive the calling of a tender, having decided to use a managing agent for AHTC.

He said that as a previous town councillor, she should have been aware that the Town Council Financial Rules state that a tender had to be called.

Lim replied that while she was aware of this, the rules also provided for a waiver in circumstances of urgency and public interest.

She said:

"I had that framework in my mind."

Davinder followed up and asked about the nature of this urgency. Earlier, he asked if Lim had reviewed the town council's contract with CPG, or met with ATC to ask about the details of the contract.

Lim said she only knew about the details of CPG's contract by the second week of June 2011, at the latest. But she said as of early June, the MPs had become aware of the time urgency.

Said Lim:

"CPG had said they did not want to stay. We were concerned (for the) residents. By early June, we had confirmation that the TCMS could be terminated by AIM with one month's notice, not sure when it would happen."

She added that it was "critical" for the incoming management to take necessary steps to tide them over.

A matter of urgency

Davinder disputed that there was any urgency.

He said that CPG's contract had some time to run, and from a contractual point of view, the town council could have asked CPG to stay on.

Davinder referred to another email sent by How on June 2, 2011 to CPG, asking them to stay on until Sept. 30, 2011, to give her more time to make preparations.

He then made the point that had AHTC wanted, they could have gotten CPG to stay on until the end of September, as How requested.

This would have meant that there was about a period of four months in which a tender could be called.

Said Davinder:

"Based on that email, you would have known you would have four more months to run. If you wanted to do a tender, you would have four months to do it."

Lim disagreed, and said that as of June 2, she was not aware of the termination date of the town council software management system.

She disagreed that time was not a factor.

The trial continued in the afternoon of Oct. 19.

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Top image by Matthias Ang