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Chan: No confict of interest in appointment of Auditor-General

This article is more than 12 months old

There is generally no conflict of interest between the Auditor-General's Office and the ministries it audits, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said in Parliament yesterday.

Mr Chan, Minister-in-charge of the public service, also set out how people are identified to fill key constitutional appointments.

He was responding to Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC), who had asked the Government to confirm if the new Auditor-General was the wife of a Senior Minister of State, and if so, how that might affect people's perception of the independence of the office.

She did not name names, but was referring to Ms Goh Soon Poh, who took over the role earlier this month and is the wife of the Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Heng Chee How.

AWARE

Mr Chan confirmed the Public Service is aware that Ms Goh is married to Mr Heng.

"In general, the key considerations when identifying candidates include their ability to do the job well, their qualifications and experience, track record, integrity and sense of public service," he said.

Listing her qualifications, he noted Ms Goh has had more than 30 years of public sector experience, and has "served with distinction, with utmost integrity and commitment to excellence".

Having served as deputy secretary for two of the largest ministries - Education and Home Affairs - and spent time in two central ministries - Finance and the Public Service Division - she is "familiar with governance matters related to finance, procurement and human resources", he said.

"The audit process generally does not involve political office-holders. There is no conflict of interest generally between AGO and the ministries in audits."

He added: "Where there is a potential conflict of interest, there are specific processes to manage this, just as in any professional organisation."

In 2017, during the debate on 38, Oxley Road, the WP had also questioned the propriety of appointing Mr Lucien Wong - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's former lawyer - and ex-People's Action Party MP Hri Kumar Nair to their positions as Attorney-General and Deputy Attorney-General that year.

PM Lee said there was no conflict of interest, and they would recuse themselves when matters they had previously dealt with in another capacity come up. - RACHEL AU-YONG

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