Surbana Jurong will not hesitate to take legal action against anyone who makes "scurrilous attacks against our company", the company said in a press release on May 19.

The urban and infrastructure consulting firm, which is owned by Temasek, shed some light on its involvement in setting up Community Care Facilities in Singapore.

Identified and converted Expo into a Community Care Facility

As part of its community efforts, Temasek engaged some of its portfolio companies to provide support.

"Surbana Jurong was called upon to help quickly develop these facilities. In March 2020, we were asked to identify and study possible locations. We explored various sites and found Singapore Expo, with its existing mechanical and electrical (M&E) infrastructure and extensive indoor space, to be large enough and fit for purpose."

As Singapore Expo itself is a Temasek portfolio company, and was already engaged to support the initiative, Surbana Jurong was able to immediately start converting Expo into the first CCF.

It assembled a team of 50 and set up 10 halls of 8,000 beds in four weeks.

The team was led by Yeo Choon Chong, CEO, Singapore, Surbana Jurong and Vincent Lee, Director, Surbana Jurong, under the direct supervision of Group CEO, Wong Heang Fine.

Received messages of support

Surbana Jurong named the following as partners:

• PSA
• Woodlands Health Campus
• Parkway Pantai
• SingEx
• Resorts World Sentosa
• "Other companies"

For its efforts in providing expertise related to Covid-19 projects, Surbana Jurong said that it has received many messages of support and thanks from members of the public.

These messages have been most encouraging to Surbana Jurong's people, said the company:

"In service of the community, we will continue to provide our expertise to projects related to managing the COVID-19 crisis on a cost-recovery basis."

Surbana Jurong: Allegations are "disrespectful" of our colleagues

However, it added:

"Unfortunately, our involvement in Singapore Expo has been most unfairly subjected to unfounded accusations of profiteering and corruption in some social media posts.

These allegations are not only untrue, they are disrespectful of our colleagues who have made enormous sacrifices, including putting their health at risk, to deliver the projects under challenging conditions, for the benefit of our community."

Surbana Jurong also said it will not hesitate to use legal action against those who make "scurrilous" attacks against the company, and added that it remains focused on supporting Singapore's efforts to contain Covid-19.

Speculation on a connection

Surbana Jurong has recently been the subject of online speculation over the connection between its CEO (International) Teo Eng Cheong and Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.

Teo is indeed married to a man named Teo Eng Cheong:

And a man named Teo Eng Cheong currently serves as Surbana Jurong's CEO International (Singapore, Southeast Asia, North Asia):

A Facebook post on May 14 noted the link and alleged that as a result of these projects, Surbana Jurong will "logically make a lot of money":

The post had 575 shares as of 11:00am on May 19:

Another Facebook post commented on the involvement of Surbana Jurong's board members in Government-Linked Companies (GLC), and had 539 shares as of 11:00am, May 19:

The post included comments such as this:

Top image from Surbana Jurong Private Limited Facebook page.