SINGAPORE — As public speculation swirled around the rental of black and white bungalows by two government ministers, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on May 17 tasked the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to look into the matter to determine if there was any misconduct related to transactions inv
In a report of its findings released on Wednesday , the CPIB said it had found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in their leasing of the two properties at 26 Ridout Road and 31 Ridout Road respectively.
"Members of the public can ask the SLA or the managing agent for an indicative rent or asking rent for the properties they are interested. The final amount arrived at is a matter of mutual agreement with or without negotiation by the interested party and SLA."WHY LAND SIZE OF 26 RIDOUT ROAD WAS EXPANDED
He offered to maintain the adjacent land at his own cost. Mr Shanmugam stated in his interview with CPIB that he had not wanted to lease the additional adjacent land as there would be legal obligations attached to leasing it. The cost of maintaining this additional land, approximately S$25,000 per year, was incurred by Mr Shanmugam, which would otherwise be borne by SLA.""Mr Shanmugam and his agent were not aware of the Guide Rent. His agent studied the rental of comparable neighbouring properties, and independently determined and valued the rent. Mr Shanmugam instructed his property agent that he should not be paying less than his neighbours.
Mr Shanmugam paid S$61,400 to build a car porch. In addition, he stated in his interview with CPIB that he paid over S$400,000 for additional improvement works to the state property not covered by SLA’s restoration works. Instead, SLA assessed the Guide Rent to be S$24,500. SLA’s rationale was that on top of the S$24,500, it intended to charge the tenant another S$2,000 to recover the amortised cost of works to clear and incorporate the additional land. This would bring the total minimum rental to the correct value of S$26,500.
It was listed on the state property information online website. The property had been vacant for five years before two unsuccessful bids were made below the prevailing guide rent, i.e., S$12,000 in July 2018 and S$5,000 in August 2018.
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