Housing grants for ineligible people, failure to declare project savings, excluded persons allowed to enter casinos: AGO report

The Auditor-General's Office (AGO) released on Jul. 15 its annual report for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.

It audited all 16 government ministries, eight organs of state, 13 statutory boards and four government-owned companies.

It raised a total of 136 audit findings, which were conveyed to the audited entities.

Among these findings was that the Ministry of Health (MOH) had failed to declare S$147.96 million in savings from a development project for seven years.

S$4.41 million in payments made by the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) were also found to have irregularities, which AGO said cast doubt on the quotation's authenticity.

Ministry of Health

MOH was found with lapses in approval and financial governance of a development project and lapses in contract management, among others.

In one case, MOH did not undergo the proper approval process for changes to the scope of a development project.

It also did not declare to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) project savings totalling S$147.96 million.

DPC approval

According to the AGO report, agencies with development projects above S$500 million will need to seek Cabinet's in-principle approval, followed by approval from the Development Planning Committee (DPC) for the total project cost.

Agencies are not to make public commitments to spend government funds, such as calling for tenders, before DPC's approval is obtained, unless MOF concurs.

A DPC is made up of three ministers.

If there are substantial material changes to the project's scope, or if the project cost increases by more than 10 per cent of the approved cost or S$100 million, whichever is lower, DPC's re-approval must be sought.

For this particular development project, DPC's approval was obtained in July 2016 for a total cost of S$864.36 million.

However, AGO found that between May 2013 and April 2016, MOH had called and awarded 12 tenders and one quotation for the project, totalling S$30.83 million, prior to approval from DPC and without MOF's concurrence.

MOH was also found to have funded five items from the project budget totalling S$35.34 million, even though these items had been specifically rejected or reduced by the DPC.

Project savings

MOH also did not declare project savings totalling S$147.96 million, or 17 per cent of the total project budget, that arose from lower tender rates.

AGO noted that, as at March 2026, more than seven years after the award of the final construction tender, MOH had yet to declare the savings to MOF.

MOF's guidelines stipulate that any savings arising from major development project tenders exceeding S$100 million should be declared to MOF no later than one month after the award is tendered.

In this instance, MOH acknowledged the lapses and stated that it would be declaring the project savings for the audited project, and other ongoing and past development projects by September 2026.

Ministry of Defence

Out of 68 sets of the Mindef's procurement documents, the AGO found possible irregularities within 20 of them, which relate to payments totalling S$4.41 million.

The AGO noted that these possible irregularities "cast doubt on the authenticity of quotations provided" and "whether reasonable market rates had been paid" for the works performed.

Mindef has since lodged a police report and said that it would strengthen its processes, such as introducing additional price reasonableness assessment for "expected high-usage and high-value items".

Ministry of Manpower

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) was found to have charged foreign worker levy for work permit holders in the marine shipyard sector higher than that which is stipulated in subsidiary legislation for two months in 2026.

The total levy amount charged from January and February 2026 was S$4.82 million higher than that provided by the law, AGO found.

This occurred as MOM did not update the subsidiary legislation to reflect new foreign worker levy rates, which were announced in March 2024 and implemented on Jan. 1, 2026.

MOM said it has since updated the subsidiary legislation to reflect the updated levy rates, which took effect on Jun. 1, 2026.

It also said it would refund the affected firms and had undertaken "several measures to tighten its process to prevent future lapses".

Gambling Regulatory Authority of Singapore

AGO analysed records obtained from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Singapore (GRA) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) on casino patron entries for the period of Apr. 1, 2023, to Mar. 31, 2025.

It found that 120 Excluded Persons (EPs) had been allowed to enter the casinos at Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, even though they were under exclusion orders which prohibited them from doing so.

Out of these 120 EPs, 107 were subsequently reported by casino operators to GRA.

For these 107 EPs, they had entered the casinos 1,100 times in total while under exclusion orders.

AGO also found that 26 individuals were allowed entry into the casinos even though they had exceeded their monthly casino visit limits.

Singapore Pools accounts

79 Singapore Pools accounts held by an EP were also not closed.

32 of these account holders placed bets amounting to S$75,800 during the period Apr. 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2025, even though they were on exclusion orders.

GRA and MSF explained that this error, along with individuals being allowed to enter casinos beyond their visit limits, was due to data migration issues. They had been rectified as of February 2026.

AGO also found that 194 casino special employees who were licensed by GRA had entered the casino, with signs of possible gambling or gaming.

Special employees include persons employed by or working in a casino performing gaming-related duties, such as dealers, slot attendants and management.

Under their license condition, they must not gamble or game in any casino in Singapore.

Housing Development Board

The Housing Development Board (HDB) was found with weakness in eligibility checks for flat applications under the Married Child Priority Scheme (MCPS), Proximity Housing Grant scheme and CPF Housing Grant scheme.

This resulted in grants being disbursed in cases where the applicants did not meet the eligibility criterion, had already received the grants previously or exceeded the income ceiling.

HDB acknowledged the importance of using accurate information to assess eligibility for proximity-based priority schemes and grants.

It said that it would introduce additional checks against ICA's records, in addition to using its internal records.

Season parking rates

HDB was also found with weaknesses in eligibility checks on its season parking and family season parking applications and renewals.

AGO found that 1,585 commercial vehicles were charged incorrect season parking rates.

Instead of commercial vehicle rates, they were charged non-commercial rates.

As a result, there was an estimated under-collection of fees of S$1 million.

HDB acknowledged the need to strengthen its verification checks on season parking and family season parking transactions.

Skillsfuture Singapore

While AGO noted that Skillsfuture Singapore had instituted some good practices, it suggested areas where the agency could improve, including detecting potential gaming of course fee funding.

AGO reported that it found 15 trainees who attended a high number of self-sponsored courses conducted by two training providers, which were their employers.

The 15 trainees attended a total of 886 courses with S$232,100 of grants disbursed to their employers during the period of Apr. 1, 2022, and Mar. 31, 2025.

AGO further noted that the two training providers were related companies.

One of the two providers conducted 17 courses where all attendees were its employees, employees of the other provider, or spouses or family members of these employees.

Such training arrangements raised concerns about the legitimacy of the training conducted, and could indicate potential gaming by the training providers to obtain course fee funding and boost the attendance rate of its courses, AGO commented.

The agency informed AGO that its funding policy allowed self-sponsored trainees to attend courses conducted by their employers or related companies.

It also informed AGO that it had implemented controls such as requiring co-payment of course fees and disallowing training providers to pay net fees for their own course to address potential gaming risk.

However, the agency said it would look further into the matter.

You can read the full AGO report here.