The first day of the Workers' Party (WP) town council trial began on Oct. 5.

Two different entities, Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), run by an independent panel, and Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) have filed lawsuits against WP MPs Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim and Low Thia Khiang.

The other defendants include:

• AHTC councillor Chua Zhi Hon
• AHTC councillor Kenneth Foo Seck Guan
• General Manager/Deputy Secretary of AHTC How Weng Fan
• AHTC's former managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS)
• FMSS owner Danny Loh, who died in 2015. He will be represented by How, his widow.

What's at stake?

AHTC's lawsuit involves over S$33.7 million in payments to FMSS and service provider FM Solutions and Integrated Services (FMSI), and alleges that these payments were improper and void.

PRPTC is involved in the lawsuit as it is managing the affairs of Punggol East SMC. It is asking for "equitable compensation" for the constituency, with the exact amount yet to be determined.

The WP won Punggol East in a by-election in 2013. It then became part of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council, responsible for one of the most unwieldy acronyms in Singapore politics, AHPETC.

However during the 2015 general election, the PAP won back the seat. Punggol East then left the AHPETC and became part of the PRPTC.

Alleged conflict of interest

Lawyer David Chan from Shook Lin & Bok law firm, representing AHTC, pointed out that FMSS was set up by married couple Danny Loh and How Weng Fan in 2011.

It took over as the town council's managing agent from CPG Facilities Management.

At the time CPG was contracted for about two more years, but Chan said in his opening statement that an "unjustified and unwarranted" waiver of tender was done, with WP's Lim and Low "the key individuals behind this decision."

Said Chan:

"(WP's Lim and Low) pre-judged the issue and simply wanted to appoint Loh and How, their loyal supporters."

He said that Loh was appointed as AHTC secretary while How was appointed the deputy secretary and general manager, “even though they held shareholding interests” in FMSS.

FMSS was paid to manage and oversee the town council’s day-to-day operations. Said Chan:

"The circumstances were such: On one hand, we had FMSS and FMSI raising invoices; and on the other hand, we had conflicted persons with profit interests in FMSS and/or FMSI certifying that work had been done for those same invoices."

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Flawed system of checks and balances

Lawyer Davinder Singh of Drew & Napier LLC represented PRPTC.

In his opening statement, he said that the system of checks and balances was "lacking and flawed", and it allowed people with conflicts of interest to "enrich themselves almost at will."

He also said that the defendants had come to use the witness stand as a "soapbox to score political points." Added Davinder:

"They and FMSS must account to the real victims, that is, the residents who have been made to bear the consequences of their town councillors’ misdeeds."

Said Davinder of the switch in managing agents:

"A company that had no track record in managing town councils of this size, a company which apart from its directors and a few management staff had no (other) staff at all, was given this contract - on the quiet.

Worse, they got carte blanche to engage new staff as necessary, for the preparation of taking over the town council, and were able to claim such costs on full reimbursement basis. So: ‘A blank cheque to hire whoever you want, however many you want, and we will pay’."

Background info

Just in case you're a little bit confused with all the different names and acronyms being thrown about, here's some background information and a brief timeline of the long-running saga.

Top image via screen grab from Yahoo SG's video.