Instead, Mr Ngerng is arguing that his article had raised two issues – one, transparency of where the funds managed by the GIC and Temasek Holdings originate and who actually manages the CPF funds; two, why Singaporeans do not receive “the full amount of the investment gains from the investment of CPF monies.” On the first point, Mr Ngerng argues that “there is no transparency in the manner in which CPF monies were invested.” Mr Ngerng refers to an earlier entry on the website of the GIC, which had said: “GIC manages the Government’s reserves, but as to how the funds from CPF monies flow into reserves which could then be managed by either MAS, GIC or Temasek, this is not made explicit to us.” Mr Ngerng says that the GIC’s “stated position [was] not transparent, as one is unable to discern whether it is MAS, GIC or Temasek that manages CPF monies.” He added that “it is inconceivable that GIC does not know whether or not it manages CPF funds” given that “the Plaintiff, the two deputy prime ministers and the ministers for Trade & Industry and Education sit on the board of directors of GIC.” It was only later on that the GIC “admit to managing CPF monies”, Mr Ngerng says, after he had published his allegedly offensive article. “Likewise, the Government has only after I published the article stated that Temasek Holdings does not manage CPF monies. This was quite different from GIC’s initial public statement that CPF monies flow into reserves which could be managed by either GIC, MAS or Temasek Holdings and that they were not told explicitly whether they were managing CPF monies or not.” Mr Ngerng’s affidavit then pointed to three occasions in the past where he said “the Government and the GIC had denied that the GIC manages CPF monies.” In his affidavit, Mr Ngerng explains: “In 2007, to a question asked by the Worker’s Party Secretary-General Low Thia Kiang, ‘I would like to seek clarifications from the Minister. Does the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) use money derived from CPF to invest?’, then-Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen had denied that the GIC manages CPF monies and said, ‘Sir, The answer is no.’ “Also, in 2006, on at the GIC 25th Anniversary Dinner, then-Minister Mentor and GIC Chairman Lee Kuan Yew had said ‘there is no connection between GIC’s rate of return and the interest paid on CPF accounts.’ “And in 2001, at a press conference to mark GIC’s 20th anniversary, then-Senior Minister and GIC Chairman Lee Kuan Yew had said in an article in The Straits Times, headlined, ‘GIC does not use CPF funds: SM Lee’, ‘I want to clarity that there is no direct link between the GIC and the CPF.’” Mr Ngerng says that these three instances showed that the Government had “misled Singaporeans.” “However,” Mr Ngerng says, “after I wrote the Article, the Government and the GIC volte-faced on their position in June this year.”
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 00:07:56 +0000
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