You still cannot understand what type of oppositions do the people wanted.
People want a moderate oppositions & not those troublemakers type. WP is decent & middle ground type of opposition MP that fit the mood of the electorate
The Workers' Party (WP) town councillors involved in multimillion-dollar lawsuits over alleged improper payments have paid their lawyers another $195,800.
This brings their legal bill to around $800,000 to date.
The latest bill was for "work done in the final pre-trial stage", WP chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh and former chief Low Thia Khiang said on their blog In Good Faith yesterday, along with a picture of the receipt.
Last week, the trio raised over $1.13 million in a crowdfunding exercise that closed after three days, as the amount raised "substantially covers the legal fees required at this point in time", they wrote then.
Prior to the exercise, they had paid about $600,000 in fees out of their own pockets.
Of the crowdfunded amount, $1 million was deposited with law firm Tan, Rajah & Cheah. Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah is representing the trio and two other Aljunied-Hougang town councillors in the civil suits, for which the first leg of hearings ended on Tuesday.
The quintet, former AHTC managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS) and its owners How Weng Fan and her late husband Danny Loh, have been sued by AHTC over $33.7 million in alleged improper payments.
AHTC was directed to sue by an independent panel led by Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam.
At the close of their online appeal, WP chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh and former chief Low Thia Khiang had raised a total of $1,008,802.
Separately, the panel said in an update on Wednesday that the law firm representing AHTC will let the High Court determine its fees after the case ends, through a legal process known as taxation.
The update added that the law firm had not been paid any professional fees so far, and AHTC has only paid for its share of the hearing fees.
Mr Cyril Chua, director of law firm Robinson LLC, said taxation is a "transparent process that pre-empts accusations of lawyers being overpaid".
He added that judges determine the appropriate legal fees based on the time spent by lawyers and the complexity of the case, among other things.
The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council has also launched a lawsuit against the defendants, to recover its share of losses allegedly incurred when Punggol East constituency was managed by the WP-led town council from 2013 to 2015. It is represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Drew & Napier.
When asked about Mr Singh's legal fees, Punggol East MP Charles Chong said he would not be commenting as long as the case is still before the courts.
FMSS' lawyers Netto & Magin LLC also declined to speak about their clients' fees to date.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/wps-legal-bill-800k-to-date-ahtc-to-let-court-decide-its-fees
Let me guess the team of Samsters for Aljunied GRC:
U brought up a good point. MND give grants to town councils and town councils also collect conservancy charges. If that is the case should not the town councils be abolished to get rid of 1 layer of bureaucracy? Than all charges be paid to MND n MND does the upkeep of the estate. Singkieland soo small, no point having town councils to enrich more pappie dogs like u.What nonsense! The Ministry of National Development is non-partisan and gives out the grants based on a formula depending on the number and type of flats in the ward.
This matter has been debated in parliament years ago.
In its statement on Thursday, the ministry said all town councils receive an S&CC operating grant based on the number of HDB units and type of flats. The grants are higher for smaller units - $33.30 a month and $26.20 a month respectively for one-room and two-room flats - compared to $17 a month for three-room and $9 a month for four-room flats.
Councils receive a higher amount if they have more and smaller flat-types, the ministry said. The councils for Ang Mo Kio, for example, where 39 per cent of the 89,127 flats are three-room or smaller, and Tanjung Pagar, where 59 per cent of the 75,050 flats are three-room or smaller, both receive more grants than AHPETC, where 29 per cent of the 71,760 flats are three-room or smaller.
By contrast, Chua Chu Kang - which has an almost similar 71,348 flats as AHPETC - receives less in S&CC grants as only 12 per cent of its flats are three-room or smaller. The S&CC grant for Chua Chu Kang is $4.9 million compared to AHPETC's $7.2 million, the ministry said.
The ministry also responded to a question from The Straits Times to explain comments by Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee on Nov 7 about the financial position of AHPETC.
And it also confirmed that after the 2011 General Election - when the People's Action Party lost Aljunied GRC to the WP - an amount of $3.7 million from Aljunied council's accumulated surplus was transferred to its sinking fund. Under the Town Councils Act, this must be done after an election. But the sinking fund can be used by councils for future major repair and repainting works.
In his comments on Nov 7, Mr Lee noted that Aljunied Town Council - before it was merged with Hougang Town Council by the WP - had an operating surplus of $3.3 million. But within two years, the merged council's financial position deteriorated rapidly. It had an operating deficit of $734,000 in the 2012 financial year.
Using financial statements of AHPETC, the ministry provided comparisons of finances in the 2012 financial year, and that of the 2010 financial year when Aljunied was under the PAP.
The data showed that despite AHPETC's increased income of $29.8 million in FY2012 - 11 per cent more than the $26.8 million in FY2010 - its expenditure was up significantly at $35.4 million. This was 30 per cent more than the $27.3 million of FY2010.
The council's operating deficit in FY2012, before grants, was $5.6 million. The ministry said this was a 1,120 per cent increase over the $500,000 operating deficit in FY2010.
After grants and less transfers, AHPETC's operating deficit was $734,000 - as compared to a surplus of $3.3 million in FY2010.
As to the question of why Aljunied received $26.7 million in government grants in FY2010/2011 and that a much lower $7.3 million went to AHPETC in both FY2011/2012 and FY2012/2013, the ministry said that of the $26.7 million given, an amount of $19.2 million was a one-off grant to help the council offset the cost of the lift upgrading programme. It added that Hougang council, under the WP in FY2010, similarly received $5 million.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...xplains-town-council-surplus-and-grant-issues
The Workers' Party (WP) town councillors involved in multimillion-dollar lawsuits over alleged improper payments have paid their lawyers another $195,800.
This brings their legal bill to around $800,000 to date.
The latest bill was for "work done in the final pre-trial stage", WP chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh and former chief Low Thia Khiang said on their blog In Good Faith yesterday, along with a picture of the receipt.
Last week, the trio raised over $1.13 million in a crowdfunding exercise that closed after three days, as the amount raised "substantially covers the legal fees required at this point in time", they wrote then.
Prior to the exercise, they had paid about $600,000 in fees out of their own pockets.
Of the crowdfunded amount, $1 million was deposited with law firm Tan, Rajah & Cheah. Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah is representing the trio and two other Aljunied-Hougang town councillors in the civil suits, for which the first leg of hearings ended on Tuesday.
The quintet, former AHTC managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS) and its owners How Weng Fan and her late husband Danny Loh, have been sued by AHTC over $33.7 million in alleged improper payments.
AHTC was directed to sue by an independent panel led by Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam.
At the close of their online appeal, WP chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh and former chief Low Thia Khiang had raised a total of $1,008,802.
Separately, the panel said in an update on Wednesday that the law firm representing AHTC will let the High Court determine its fees after the case ends, through a legal process known as taxation.
The update added that the law firm had not been paid any professional fees so far, and AHTC has only paid for its share of the hearing fees.
Mr Cyril Chua, director of law firm Robinson LLC, said taxation is a "transparent process that pre-empts accusations of lawyers being overpaid".
He added that judges determine the appropriate legal fees based on the time spent by lawyers and the complexity of the case, among other things.
The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council has also launched a lawsuit against the defendants, to recover its share of losses allegedly incurred when Punggol East constituency was managed by the WP-led town council from 2013 to 2015. It is represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Drew & Napier.
When asked about Mr Singh's legal fees, Punggol East MP Charles Chong said he would not be commenting as long as the case is still before the courts.
FMSS' lawyers Netto & Magin LLC also declined to speak about their clients' fees to date.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/wps-legal-bill-800k-to-date-ahtc-to-let-court-decide-its-fees
The Workers' Party (WP) town councillors involved in multimillion-dollar lawsuits over alleged improper payments have paid their lawyers another $195,800.
This brings their legal bill to around $800,000 to date.
The latest bill was for "work done in the final pre-trial stage", WP chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh and former chief Low Thia Khiang said on their blog In Good Faith yesterday, along with a picture of the receipt.
Last week, the trio raised over $1.13 million in a crowdfunding exercise that closed after three days, as the amount raised "substantially covers the legal fees required at this point in time", they wrote then.
Prior to the exercise, they had paid about $600,000 in fees out of their own pockets.
Of the crowdfunded amount, $1 million was deposited with law firm Tan, Rajah & Cheah. Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah is representing the trio and two other Aljunied-Hougang town councillors in the civil suits, for which the first leg of hearings ended on Tuesday.
The quintet, former AHTC managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS) and its owners How Weng Fan and her late husband Danny Loh, have been sued by AHTC over $33.7 million in alleged improper payments.
AHTC was directed to sue by an independent panel led by Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam.
At the close of their online appeal, WP chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh and former chief Low Thia Khiang had raised a total of $1,008,802.
Separately, the panel said in an update on Wednesday that the law firm representing AHTC will let the High Court determine its fees after the case ends, through a legal process known as taxation.
The update added that the law firm had not been paid any professional fees so far, and AHTC has only paid for its share of the hearing fees.
Mr Cyril Chua, director of law firm Robinson LLC, said taxation is a "transparent process that pre-empts accusations of lawyers being overpaid".
He added that judges determine the appropriate legal fees based on the time spent by lawyers and the complexity of the case, among other things.
The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council has also launched a lawsuit against the defendants, to recover its share of losses allegedly incurred when Punggol East constituency was managed by the WP-led town council from 2013 to 2015. It is represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Drew & Napier.
When asked about Mr Singh's legal fees, Punggol East MP Charles Chong said he would not be commenting as long as the case is still before the courts.
FMSS' lawyers Netto & Magin LLC also declined to speak about their clients' fees to date.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/wps-legal-bill-800k-to-date-ahtc-to-let-court-decide-its-fees
I hope WP looses. They have been a let down since they won Aljunied. We need an opposition that can perform n not toe the pap line
KNN lansai lah all these outsourcing is just a gateway for the higher level to have a share KNN similar to big mnc higher level has to ask hr to find another outsource company hr to find headcount and this higher level has a share of it too KNN end of the day the worker pay has already been divide into don't know how many hands liao KNN
Please do...one less bleeding heart liberal fuckwit eliminated is always too little..but at least it's a start...thank you John Tan
Shows they atas mah....as they own the company etc
But that is the truth...
You still cannot understand what type of oppositions do the people wanted.
People want a moderate oppositions & not those troublemakers type. WP is decent & middle ground type of opposition MP that fit the mood of the electorate
Silly man lah you Lobert! Worker Party make so much trouble for everyone now have to court still not call troublemaker?
