SINGAPORE: The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) on Wednesday (Nov 16) said it had terminated the employment of CEO Edmund Kwok with effect from Nov 14.
In its press release, NKF said a three-member executive committee (exco) appointed by the board will assume all duties and responsibilities of the CEO until mid-December when the former CEO, Mrs Eunice Tay, will return to take over responsibilities of the CEO from this exco while the search for a new CEO goes on.
“The Board of NKF would like to assure all stakeholders, including patients, donors,
supporters and employees, that Mr Kwok’s personal indiscretion has nothing to do with the
stewardship of our finances. Our operations are not affected by this matter and our services
to patients and beneficiaries continue as per normal,” it added.
Mr Kwok had joined NKF in 2012, and was serving as the Chief Operating Officer under then-CEO Mrs Tay before assuming the reins in November 2013. The latter had taken the mantle in 2006 from then-interim CEO Goh Chee Leok in the aftermath of the leadership reshuffle resulting from the entire NKF board resigning in 2005.
He was previously the vice president of oncology at Parkway Healthcare and also had stints at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Institute of Mental Health.
Mr Edmund Kwok’s name was missing from NKF’s organisation chart, which indicated it was effective Nov 14 this year.
The latest development casts another shadow on the VWO’s chequered past. In 2004, it was embroiled in a financial scandal involving another CEO, Mr T. T. Durai, who was eventually found to have abused his authority by privileging himself and those he chose to favour. For instance, he admitted to having used the VWO’s funds to maintain his personal car, travel frequently on first-class flights and finance a fleet of eight chauffeured cars used for both official and private purposes.
Both civil and criminal lawsuits were filed against the former CEO, who repaid S$4.05 million he owed the charity and also served two-thirds of the three-month jail sentence given to him for deceiving NKF into paying S$20,000 to his interior design friend David Tan. He started his jail term in June 2008 after he lost his appeal to the High Court against his conviction and sentencing the year before.
As a result of this incident, a new board of directors and leadership, led by Mr Gerard Ee as chairman, were appointed to rebuild NKF’s reputation. They restructured the way the VWO was run to improve fiscal prudence, accountability and transparency, as well as its core services to patients.
In an interview with 938LIVE’s On The Record last December, Mr Ee shared that the main challenge he faced after taking over NKF in 2005 was that the organisation had lost the support and trust of the general public. “We needed to have that basic trust, and then deal with the issues,” he said then.
When contacted after NKF’s announcement, Mr Ee said he was “surprised” at the news and that “he had no idea on the background” of the termination, adding that he could not comment without knowing more.
