Public accounts watchdog flags agency lapses

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s public accounts watchdog flagged lapses and irregularities across government agencies in its latest audit, including issues with HDB housing grants and the enforcement of gambling exclusion orders.

It also highlighted financial governance issues relating to the development of the new National Cancer Centre Singapore.

A total of 136 audit findings were issued and conveyed to audited entities through management letters, the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) said in its latest report published on July 15.

The 2026 edition looked at government financial statements, as well as the financial statements of 13 statutory boards, four government-owned companies and two other accounts.

Among other things, AGO uncovered possible irregularities in records, as well as lapses in the management of contracts, operations and revenue across several ministries and statutory boards.

Its report was submitted to the President on July 2 and presented to Parliament on July 14.

In a statement on July 15, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said the Government takes the AGO’s observations seriously and has taken steps to address them.

It added that where lapses are identified, agencies investigate the root causes thoroughly and take corrective actions promptly. These include recovering any overpayments, enhancing processes, better leveraging technology and taking disciplinary action where warranted.

“The Government takes a serious view of any irregularities identified in the records furnished for audit,” it said.

It added: “Cases have been referred to the police where there are grounds to do so. Any wrongdoing will be dealt with seriously and appropriate action will be taken against those involved.”

One of the AGO’s findings was that the Ministry of Health (MOH) did not declare savings of $147.96 million for the National Cancer Centre Singapore project. The ministry then used these savings to fund three items, two of which had previously been rejected by the Development Planning Committee.

It also found approvals that were obtained after certain works had started or been completed, and loss and expense payments of $2.2 million that were not properly substantiated at MOH.

MOH said in a statement that the ministry and MOH Holdings will continually strengthen their systems and controls to ensure rigour, consistency and accountability across all ongoing and future projects.

AGO also flagged issues with how the Housing Board checked eligibility for various housing grants.

“As a result, flats were allocated and grants disbursed to ineligible applicants. Grant conditions might also not have been complied with,” it noted.

It also found significant discrepancies in patrol records submitted by a contractor providing carpark patrol and enforcement services. HDB’s preliminary estimate was that it had possibly overpaid the contractor $9.7 million for work not performed.

AGO also noted errors in the valuation of variation orders for the HDB’s Home Improvement Programme contracts. This resulted in a total underpayment of $1.02 million and overpayment of $250,000 across the contracts checked.

In addition, HDB’s season parking and family season parking applications and renewals totalling $24.99 million were approved despite applicants not meeting eligibility criteria. Commercial vehicles were charged incorrect rates for season parking, resulting in an estimated undercollection of $1 million.

HDB said in a statement that it has “taken immediate steps to rectify the irregularities identified, and strengthen its processes and controls, to maintain high standards of governance and accountability in the management of our projects and operations”.

Other possible irregularities were found across agencies including the Ministry of Defence, MOH, Sport Singapore, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

These included possible falsified quotations, backdated quality control reports and possible irregularities in bids submitted for open IT procurements.

In addition, at the Ministry of Education, possible falsified approval e-mails were found for the appointment of officers. The ministry said it had made a police report and dismissed the officer responsible.

AGO said it takes a serious view of any furnishing of false information for audit purposes.

The report also detailed lapses in the management of grant and priority schemes, lapses in financial controls, weaknesses in IT controls and possible irregularities in records furnished for audit for other ministries and agencies.

Thematic audit observations on training grants

AGO conducted a thematic audit of nine training grant schemes managed by the SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore agencies, covering total disbursements of $2.62 billion during the audit period.

It noted that in general, both agencies had put in place processes and controls across the grant management life cycle. Areas for improvement identified included grants disbursed for ineligible trainees, potential gaming of course fee funding by trainees who attended a high number of courses conducted by their employers, and lapses in the monitoring of progress reporting.

AGO also noted that agencies such as HDB, URA and IPOS have increasingly adopted automated tools and data analytics to improve efficiency and strengthen compliance.

In its statement, MOF said improvements will be made in areas including the management of contracts, operations, revenue, grant and priority schemes, financial and IT controls.

It noted that AGO also highlighted three other areas for improvement relating to procurement evaluations, addressing detected errors in fee collections and payments, and the management of conflict-of-interest declarations. Agencies are strengthening internal controls and tightening processes in these areas, it said.

“The public service is committed to upholding our standards of governance, integrity and accountability. Good practices and areas for improvement will be shared across public agencies,” MOF said.

It added: “We will take on board the lessons from the report to strengthen the management of public resources and reinforce a culture of good governance across the public service.”

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