https://kenjeyaretnam.com/2023/07/0...ded-any-contracts-to-shanmugams-sons-company/
Will SLA Issue a Statement Denying the Rumours That They Have Awarded Any Contracts to Shanmugam’s Son’s Company?
There have been a lot of rumours which seem to be going viral today that Shanmugam’s son’s employer, Livspace,has been given contracts by SLA in connection with the refurbishment of 26 Ridout Road. For the few people in Singapore who don’t know, by now Ravi is the Country Head of Livspace Singapore. Livspace markets itself as “
a unique platform that connects designers with customers and suppliers. It takes end-to-end ownership of housing projects and creates personalised designs for homes using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms.“
I wrote in my blog “
Does the PAP Really Think Singaporeans Are So Bodoh?“, just after Teo Chee Hean’s absurdly conflicted and legally invalid review was released:
I have not independently verified this but apparently the renovations were done by a company headed by Shanmugam’s son. Did his company do the repair works paid for by SLA or only the additional $400,000 that the report says Shanmugam paid? If the former, how can that be compatible with good governance?
There has been complete silence from the parties involved as to whether Livspace earned any fees or remuneration in connection with the renovation of 26 and/or 31 Ridout Road, or any of the other B&W bungalows under SLA’s jurisdiction. The absence of any statement denying the swirling rumours from any of the parties, whether Livspace, SLA or Shanmugam is suggestive that there may be some truth to them.
If the SLA has awarded any contracts to Shanmugam’s son then there may be a presumption of corruption under Clause 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act since Shanmugam is the head of the SLA. Clause 165 of the Penal Code would also apply. Presumably Shan’s son would benefit personally from the contract. Even though the total spent on 26 Ridout of around $1 million ($515,000 by SLA and a claimed $400,000 by Shanmugam personally) would not be material in the context of the valuation put upon Livspace by investors of around US$1 billion it would be significant in the context of the US$30 million Livspace said it was investing in Singapore and for advertising purposes. Ravindran Shanmugam’s appointment in October 2019 as Country Head Singapore seems to be around the same time or shortly after the renovations were carried out.
Of course even if Ravindran’s company received contracts from SLA the Government’s line will be that this was just the result of an open bidding process and on merit. In this video Ravindran is asked about his “famous” father and spews the usual PAP spiel about how great it is to live in a country as strongly meritocratic as Singapore, blah blah blah.
This kind of blatant channelling of employment and contracts to spouses, children and relatives has gone for decades. However while in other countries it’s called nepotism and corruption in Singapore it’s just the highest embodiment of meritocracy, because anyone related to the ruling elite must have extraordinary abilities just on the basis of genetics, something on which LKY was very hot.
The PAP Government is usually rated at the top of international rankings of transparency and freedom from corruption. Of course no one sees any contradiction between this and the fact that LKY’s wife raked in obscene amounts as head of Lee and Lee because of their stranglehold on HDB conveyancing, the current PM’s wife was appointed to head Temasek on a compensation package that the Government refuses to divulge and LHL’s son was given a Government scholarship, obtained a job at Google and now heads the Government Technology Agency. Similarly Shanmugam’s son claims to have done everything on merit and that it has nothing to do with who his father is. However getting a job at McKinsey, the management consultancy that was implicated in huge corruption scandals, dubbed “state capture” in South Africa, under President Jacob Zuma, and was recently charged in relation to a railway procurement contract, would be enormously facilitated rby connections that can secure contracts. Not so long ago the US Justice Department forced a number of banks, including J P Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Goldman Sachs, to settle over accusations that they had given jobs to children of Asian government officials in return for work on privatizations or bond deals. It would be good to know if McKinsey has any Singapore Government contracts and whether any come under the Ministry of Law and Home Affairs. After McKinsey he worked for Grab, in which Temasek has a large stake and where the company was forced to reassign Tin Pei Ling to a different role after an outcry spearheaded by me over her shameless exploitation of her political connections to land a lucrative role in charge of public policy while still remaining an MP with a husband in the PMO. Like at McKinsey who his father was undoubtedly was a large factor in his appointment. Of course any attempt to publicise these links will just lead to cries from the PAP’s friends and state media that you’re just jealous because you’re not good enough, if not to attempts to silence you through the threat of defamation suits.
We need SLA to clarify what contracts, if any, it awarded to Livspace, and when and in relation to which properties. If these rumours are untrue then it need to deny them to quash the speculation. Singaporeans have tolerated nepotism and the monopolisation and favourable pricing of state resources by the PAP elite for so long,,what in other countries would be called corruption but in Singapore is transformed magically into meritocracy, while ordinary Singaporeans are continually lectured on the need to conserve the reserves and that that there are no free lunches. It’s remarkable that they are now so upset about this. After all, $500k or $1 million in contracts is “peanuts” as Mrs Goh Chok Tong famously remarked. Let’s hope the worm is turning at last and Singaporeans are no longer prepared to be taken for a ride by a bunch of self-serving, secretive and venal hypocrites who use the power of the courts and state machinery to intimidate citizens from exposing them.