SINGAPORE – A Singapore court found a former wealth manager of Swiss bank BSI guilty of four charges on Wednesday in a case linked to a money-laundering investigation involving Malaysian fund 1MDB, the third BSI banker convicted in the city state this year.

District judge Ng Peng Hong found ex-BSI banker Yeo Jiawei guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice by urging witnesses to lie to police and destroying evidence during an investigation into illicit money transfers linked to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Yeo is facing seven separate charges, including money laundering, cheating and forgery, which the prosecution said he would be tried for next year. Prosecutors told reporters after the hearing that he “could face more charges”.

Yeo, 33, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing during the month-long trial.

He appeared in court with his hands and feet in chains and appeared calm when the verdict was read out. He has been held in remand since April.

The prosecutors had charged that Yeo had amassed S$23.9 million by taking secret profits from 1MDB-linked transactions during his work for the Singapore unit of BSI.

Singapore authorities have called the 1MDB-linked investigation the most complex, sophisticated and largest money laundering case they have handled. It involves at least six different jurisdictions.

Singapore’s central bank in May ordered the closure of the operations of the Singapore unit of the Swiss private bank and asked the Attorney General’s Chambers to investigate six members of its senior management and staff.

Two of them, Yvonne Seah and Yak Yew Chee have already been convicted and sentenced on charges stemming from the money-laundering investigation linked to 1MDB.

Read also: Singapore jails 2nd BSI banker on charges linked to 1MDB probe

The Malaysian fund, founded by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who previously chaired its advisory board, is the subject of money laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said Malaysia will co-operate with the international investigations.

Every five years, the Government releases a national blueprint to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

The first of these Enabling Masterplans ran from 2007 to 2011, the second from 2012 to this year, and the third will cover 2017 to 2021.

Each points out unmet needs and lays out the policies and services that should be developed.

How have the recommendations been implemented? How well have the needs of people with disabilities been met over the past decade?

Certainly, the Government has devoted more resources and finances with each masterplan.

Following the 2007 outline, the Government announced a doubling of the budget allocated to services for people with disabilities.

And in the second masterplan, the budget was increased to more than $1 billion to cater to a variety of needs, especially in the areas of transport and early intervention.

Public transport fare concessions were extended to people with disabilities in 2014.

Those who could not take buses and trains were given subsidies to take cabs.

It also became the norm for buses, buildings and common areas to be made wheelchair-friendly or barrier-free.

More resources were allocated to education too. To help children with special needs, subsidies for early intervention programmes were bumped up in 2014.

In that year, a $30 million Open Door Programme was also introduced to help people with disabilities train and look for jobs, and to defray employers’ costs in supporting them.

Last month, the Education Ministry announced compulsory education from 2019 for children with moderate to severe special needs in publicly funded schools.

Changes have also taken place at the macro level, with Singapore ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013.

It is inevitable that, in spite of all the changes, there are still gaps that need to be addressed.

First, children with special needs who receive therapy should receive assistance to attend pre-school.

For now, many children with more severe developmental difficulties do not attend pre-school because of the long waiting lists at the schools.

Parents also fear that the teachers are either not adequately trained or do not have the bandwidth to handle their children.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has urged countries to provide access to formal pre-school education for children with disabilities because it is a “powerful means of nurturing diverse abilities and overcoming disadvantages and inequalities”.

Next, people with disabilities need more help to secure jobs. Research has shown that those who are employed lead more fulfilling lives.

The significance of employment goes beyond simply being a means of earning a living.

Official data shows that only about one in 10 of those with disabilities is able to find work in the open market.

Stakeholders say those who are hired are often relegated to service-related, back-end jobs that keep the employees out of sight.

Thirdly, it is time to establish a Disability Office staffed by people from the relevant health, education, manpower and social service agencies.

The work is now split between different agencies and ministries.

The issues people with disabilities face cut across the different sectors. For instance, any attempt to place them in good jobs will involve several agencies.

This includes the Ministry of Manpower to rally the support of employers, the Ministry of Education to ensure people with disabilities are taught relevant vocational skills in school, and social workers to make sure those hired are coping well in the workplace.

Such a Disability Office could be parked with the Prime Minister’s Office under a coordinating minister, said MP Denise Phua, one of the 22 members in the committee that developed the latest masterplan.

Lastly, there should be no let-up in the push for a truly inclusive society.

While several large surveys have found that people support the idea of inclusion, opinions are not always translated into action.

There are still many who are uneasy about marrying a person with a disability, or even having special needs children sitting next to able-bodied children in class.

To make any change lasting, sustainable and useful for those who need it most, there cannot be a let-up in the will to translate each Enabling Masterplan into action.

If we still view those with disabilities as a separate community, and see the plans as something that concerns Them rather than Us, we are denying a group of people their personhood and right to participate in society.

Singapore is one of the most rapidly ageing societies in the world.

The number of those with acquired disabilities due to accidents, illness and old age will rise.

Be it paralysis from a stroke or the loss of basic functions due to dementia, the range of people suffering disabilities will be far wider than those born with physical or mental impairments.

About 2.1 per cent of the student population here – or 9,660 young people below the age of 18 – have disabilities.

When it comes to people aged 50 and above, the figure rises to 13.3 per cent.

Given Singapore’s ageing population, many of its citizens will one day have disabilities.

• Key proposals

• Some recommendations for the Government in the Enabling Masterplan:

  •Introduce a standardised case management and care planning system, so people with disabilities can access services easily as they move through different life stages.

  •Explore more opportunities for interaction between children in mainstream and special education schools, as well as such opportunities for children with and without disabilities at the pre-school level.

  •Work with agencies such as Workforce Singapore and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices to promote the hiring of people with disabilities.

  •Set up a disability office to improve coordination across government agencies.

  •Develop a central database of people with disabilities to facilitate planning of services.

  •Continue educating the public on features such as parking spaces that are meant for people with disabilities so they will not be misused.

  •Fit homes with technology to enable those with disabilities to live independently in the community.

  Priscilla Goy

This article was first published on December 21, 2016.
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T looks like the motor industry in Singapore is expecting COE (Certificate of Entitlement) premiums in 2017 to head anywhere but south, even as everyone agrees the economic uncertainty is weighing heavily on consumers’ minds.

Two weeks ago, passenger-car COE premiums fell to and below S$50,000, after having stayed above that level for most of the second half of this year. Wednesday’s final COE bidding exercise for 2016 will reveal whether it was a blip or not.

Victor Kwan, Wearnes Automotive managing director for Jaguar Land Rover, thinks it was.

“With the possible further reduction in the COE quota over the next few months, there should be upward pressure on COE premiums,” he says.

Ron Lim of Tan Chong Motor Sales also thinks so but with a caveat.

“The drop in passenger-car premiums in the first tender in December is reflective of the weaker buying sentiment, possibly due to the worsening economic sentiment,” says Mr Lim, the general manager of the authorised Nissan distributor for cars and goods vehicles.

“If premiums were to bounce back up to S$50,000 and above, I expect buying sentiment to weaken again, which will mean COE prices might fall back down.”

Raymond Tang, first vice-president of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association, does not see premiums softening – at least for the next six months.

He believes the COE Category A premium will “inch up” in 2017, partly because of the motor show in January, when attractive deals attract more buyers, and partly because of steady replacement demand for low to mid-range cars.

Mr Tang says: “The small car COE premium should be stable in the first half of 2017 but for H2, we have to wait and see.

Most people are very cautious because of the economy and are waiting for some Budget goodies.”

Ricky Tay, managing director of Volkswagen Group Singapore, also has his eye on the Budget, but for a different reason.

“We will see whether the vehicle growth rate is cut because of Singapore’s car-lite push,” he says.

Mr Tay is also not convinced that premiums will fall much in 2017, mainly because of private-hire demand.

“Most of the growth in 2016 did not come from private car buyers but from parallel imports and ride-sharing companies,” he explains.

For Mr Lim, the “wild card” next year will be how aggressive the private-hire car companies are.

“If they continue to come in strongly, then we can be sure that COE premiums will remain well-supported or even be pushed higher,” he says.

Vincent Tan, managing director of VinCar, one of the biggest parallel importers here, also believes COE premiums will be stable in 2017, but for a different reason – a smaller COE quota.

He says that although Category A, B and E COEs combined should be up to 10 per cent more next year than this year, a higher number of COE revalidations could whittle them down.

“So COE premiums should be flat or slightly higher than today,” says Mr Tan, who adds that while the economy is a factor, “people still need a car”.

“Mass-market and mass-luxury models will still be okay, but supercars will suffer,” he says.

Also likely to suffer in 2017 are less well-known parallel importers because of recent high-profile cases of such vendors disappearing with customers’ deposits.

“Confidence in parallel imports (PIs) has been hurt, with the smaller importers and newcomers most affected,” says Mr Tan.

But he says VinCar, which has been in the business for 30 years, is not affected.

Mr Tang adds that the PI business has also slowed after authorised distributors began offering the same popular models, such as the Toyota Sienta compact MPV, and a made-in-

Japan Honda HR-V Crossover to take on the Vezel Japanese domestic model.

But second-hand cars will continue to shine.

“Used-car sales have been good in 2016 and will continue to be good in 2017 because of the economic uncertainty,” says Mr Tang, who is also managing director of Yong Lee Seng Motor, an established used-car dealer.

In the first 11 months of 2016, used-car transactions of over 104,000 overtook 2015’s total of about 94,000.

“People prefer to buy an older used car to tide over a difficult period instead of committing to a new car,” he says.

samuelee@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on December 21, 2016.
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In a bid to keep prices low, NTUC Foodfare currently sets the ceiling for some basic dishes at its Bukit Panjang centre, and monitors price rises of these at the Bedok centre.

Social enterprises look set to play a bigger role in the management of hawker centres here, with nine more centres slated to be run on a not-for-profit basis next year.

There are currently four such centres, which aim to keep prices low, among other social objectives.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said yesterday that NTUC Foodfare, which runs two of the four, will have seven more next year, after its successful pilot managing the Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre since 2014.

NTUC Foodfare also operates a centre in Bukit Panjang, and will take over management of five existing centres – in Toa Payoh Lorong 5, Old Airport Road, Chong Pang and two in Whampoa Drive – on July 1.

It will also manage two new centres in Kampung Admiralty and Pasir Ris Central when they are completed in the middle of next year.

NEA has been exploring alternative management models for hawker centres by engaging “socially conscious” operators to improve operational efficiency while ensuring affordable food.

The move to add centres follows positive feedback from stallholders in Bedok on Foodfare’s management approach, said NEA.

The additional centres will offer NTUC Foodfare economies of scale and greater flexibility to experiment with new ideas and operational processes, added NEA.

It also called for socially conscious operators to tender for the management of two new hawker centres in Yishun and Jurong West on a not-for-profit basis.

They are expected to open in August and September respectively.

In a bid to keep prices low, NTUC Foodfare currently sets the ceiling for some basic dishes at its Bukit Panjang centre, and monitors price rises of these at the Bedok centre.

In response to queries, NTUC Foodfare said it will not be setting price caps at the five existing centres it will take over, to minimise disruptions, but price increases will be subject to approval.

Apart from handling management issues including cleaning, each centre will have a dedicated team to provide on-the-ground support to hawkers, said a spokesman.

Mr Steven Koh, chairman of Chong Pang City Merchant and Hawker’s Association, welcomed the new management.

“Currently, the Merchant Association is handling the cleaning and plate collection, and it is very messy. I think it is good to have a third party to handle this, it will be easier for us as they are experienced,” said Mr Koh, 54.

In addition to the two now run by NTUC Foodfare, Ci Yuan Community Club’s hawker centre is run by a social enterprise subsidiary of Fei Siong Food Management, while Our Tampines Hub’s hawker centre is run by OTMH, a unit of foodcourt operator Kopitiam, also on a not-for-profit basis.

Dr William Wan, who sits on the Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee convened by the Government to help rejuvenate Singapore’s hawker scene, said social enterprises help to keep costs low for consumers while providing hawkers with a decent income as no investors have to be paid.

tiffanyt@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Dec 21, 2016.
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