AHTC trial: Defence says PwC’s report is ‘prejudiced’
Day seven of AHTC trial
A report by audit company PwC, looking into past payments made by the Workers' Party-led town council, was "prejudiced" and cannot be "regarded as an independent opinion of a fair-minded accountant", defence lawyer Leslie Netto has said.
In his cross-examination of PwC partner Goh Thien Phong, Mr Netto, who represents Aljunied-Hougang Town Council's (AHTC) former managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS) and its majority owners How Weng Fan and her late husband Danny Loh, suggested the 2017 PwC report went beyond its remit and contained generalisations.
Mr Goh contested them, saying his company based its report on available evidence.
In drawing its conclusions, the report also failed to consider issues such as the nature of town councils and how this relates to politics, Mr Netto said yesterday, day seven of the multi-million-dollar civil lawsuit involving three WP MPs.
Mr Goh disagreed, saying his company did consider the issues.
DOUBLE CHARGING
Among other matters, the PwC report said FMSS' fee structure appeared to have an element of "double charging", and that the 2011 appointment of FMSS as AHTC's managing agent for a year without tender may have had a bearing on the award of a subsequent contract when a tender was called.
PwC was appointed by the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council, to review past payments by AHTC in relation to Punggol East, after the People's Action Party took back the constituency in the 2015 election.
Asked why PwC went into the issue of "overpayments" and "unjustified payments" in its report when this was covered by KPMG in an earlier one on AHTC's books, Mr Goh said PwC's report had clearly referenced KPMG's findings.
Mr Netto then asked where in the KPMG report did it refer to the payments as double-counting. Mr Goh said PwC arrived at the conclusion based on its own judgment.
Mr Netto put to him the PwC report was speculative in claiming the initial appointment of FMSS gave the company an edge in subsequent tenders.
Mr Goh replied that other service providers had approached the town councillors but were rejected, and with the tender waived initially, people may have got the impression that it was not worthwhile putting in any tender.
"These are not borne out by facts, because they did not submit the tender," Mr Netto countered.
The hearing resumes today, and former WP chief Low Thia Khiang will take the stand.
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