Durai's 'special friends' turn on their ex-colleague Lim
Ansley Ng ansley@mediacorp.com.sg
FORMER chief executive T T Durai has thrown in the towel, but a new figure was thrown into the spotlight at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) civil suit hearing on Friday.
The lawyer for former chairman Richard Yong and ex-treasurer Loo Say San launched an all-out attack at Mr Alwyn Lim — another former board vice-chairman who had originally not been sued by NKF. His point? Mr Lim should also be held accountable for his role in the affair.
Mr Chia Boon Teck, who is representing Mr Yong and Mr Loo, first touched on the issue of Mr Durai's salary, which has drawn so much fire.
"Throughout their tenure in the NKF, Mr Yong and Mr Loo were neutral towards the public disclosure of Mr Durai's remuneration package although Mr Alwyn Lim was always against it," he said.
He also pointed to the fact that Mr Lim was the head of NKF's finance committee. "He packed the committee with his friends and business associates," said Mr Chia.
Repeatedly stressing that Mr Lim should not be allowed to get away with his role in the saga, Mr Chia said that it was he who had consistently reported that the NKF's fundraising costs never exceeded the Ministry of Health's (MOH) guidelines.
The MOH had ruled that the cost of raising funds should not be more than 30 per cent of the proceeds. Earlier in the week, NKF's Senior Counsel K Shanmugam had made the shocking disclosure that the NKF got around this cap with the help of a "slush fund".
Mr Chia also suggested that Mr Lim, an accountant by training, had played a part in the awarding of bungled IT contracts, which the NKF claims cost it millions of dollars, to the firm of Mr Durai's associate, Mr Pharis Aboobacker.
On occasion, the attacks got personal. To giggles in the packed courtroom, Mr Chia read out an April 2000 letter from Mr Lim to a nursing manager in the NKF, explaining that he had deferred promotion for one of her staff because the nurse in question had body odour.
Mr Lim was not in court on Friday. Though he was not sued by the NKF, he and three others have been dragged into the case by Mr Yong and Mr Loo.
To show that Mr Lim had a possible conflict of interest, Mr Chia said he had never declared his senior advisory role in Shanghai Intelligence Consultants, a firm that provided HR consultancy services to the NKF in 2005.
After nearly two hours, other lawyers in the courtroom started questioning Mr Chia's line of argument.
Mr Shanmugam interrupted Mr Chia to tell the court that the focus on Mr Lim had little to do with the claims against Mr Yong and Mr Loo.
"I am trying to make sure we don't get into a series of alleyways and byways and lose focus of the main issues," said Mr Shan-mugam.
Mr K Ramesh, lawyer for Professor Lawrence Chia — one of the third parties along with Mr Lim — also protested about how "the second and fourth defendants' opening was liberally spiced with references to Mr Alywn Lim's involvement in various transactions".
Mr Chia responded: "If the plaintiffs claim there was a breach of corporate governance ... the defendants' case, among other things, is how can it be that you choose some and not all of the directors to answer to your claims?"
The hearing will resume on Monday morning with former and current NKF employees taking the stand.
FORMER chief executive T T Durai has thrown in the towel, but a new figure was thrown into the spotlight at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) civil suit hearing on Friday.
The lawyer for former chairman Richard Yong and ex-treasurer Loo Say San launched an all-out attack at Mr Alwyn Lim — another former board vice-chairman who had originally not been sued by NKF. His point? Mr Lim should also be held accountable for his role in the affair.
Mr Chia Boon Teck, who is representing Mr Yong and Mr Loo, first touched on the issue of Mr Durai's salary, which has drawn so much fire.
"Throughout their tenure in the NKF, Mr Yong and Mr Loo were neutral towards the public disclosure of Mr Durai's remuneration package although Mr Alwyn Lim was always against it," he said.
He also pointed to the fact that Mr Lim was the head of NKF's finance committee. "He packed the committee with his friends and business associates," said Mr Chia.
Repeatedly stressing that Mr Lim should not be allowed to get away with his role in the saga, Mr Chia said that it was he who had consistently reported that the NKF's fundraising costs never exceeded the Ministry of Health's (MOH) guidelines.
The MOH had ruled that the cost of raising funds should not be more than 30 per cent of the proceeds. Earlier in the week, NKF's Senior Counsel K Shanmugam had made the shocking disclosure that the NKF got around this cap with the help of a "slush fund".
Mr Chia also suggested that Mr Lim, an accountant by training, had played a part in the awarding of bungled IT contracts, which the NKF claims cost it millions of dollars, to the firm of Mr Durai's associate, Mr Pharis Aboobacker.
On occasion, the attacks got personal. To giggles in the packed courtroom, Mr Chia read out an April 2000 letter from Mr Lim to a nursing manager in the NKF, explaining that he had deferred promotion for one of her staff because the nurse in question had body odour.
Mr Lim was not in court on Friday. Though he was not sued by the NKF, he and three others have been dragged into the case by Mr Yong and Mr Loo.
To show that Mr Lim had a possible conflict of interest, Mr Chia said he had never declared his senior advisory role in Shanghai Intelligence Consultants, a firm that provided HR consultancy services to the NKF in 2005.
After nearly two hours, other lawyers in the courtroom started questioning Mr Chia's line of argument.
Mr Shanmugam interrupted Mr Chia to tell the court that the focus on Mr Lim had little to do with the claims against Mr Yong and Mr Loo.
"I am trying to make sure we don't get into a series of alleyways and byways and lose focus of the main issues," said Mr Shan-mugam.
Mr K Ramesh, lawyer for Professor Lawrence Chia — one of the third parties along with Mr Lim — also protested about how "the second and fourth defendants' opening was liberally spiced with references to Mr Alywn Lim's involvement in various transactions".
Mr Chia responded: "If the plaintiffs claim there was a breach of corporate governance ... the defendants' case, among other things, is how can it be that you choose some and not all of the directors to answer to your claims?"
The hearing will resume on Monday morning with former and current NKF employees taking the stand.
posted by khimsiu at 10:27 AM
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