Singapore’s PM Lee orders ‘expeditious’ probe on rental of state properties by 2 ministers

Party elder Teo Chee Hean will review whether proper processes were followed in the leasing of state-owned bungalows by ministers K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan

PM Lee says the review, requested by both Balakrishnan and Shanmugam, is necessary to ensure the PAP government maintains the ‘highest standards of integrity’

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Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (left) and Law Minister K Shanmugam. Photo: dpa, SCMP

Published: 8:19pm, 23 May 2023Updated: 9:01pm, 23 May 2023

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday said he directed a key official to conduct an urgent investigation over the leasing of state-owned bungalows by two ministers, as the long-dominant ruling party faced rare heat from the opposition and critics over the matter.

The two ministers in question, the Minister for Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, said they welcomed the probe and the planned debate on the matter in parliament.

“I know what I did. I kept to the rules,” Shanmugam said on Tuesday night, after Prime Minister Lee announced the investigation.

“People are entitled to questions … You cannot let doubts about the integrity of ministers fester and be left unaddressed. I have nothing to hide,” he was quoted as saying by TODAYOnline.

Balakrishnan said he was “very glad” that the prime minister agreed to the probe “and to publish all relevant facts and findings before we have a full debate in parliament”.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (right) and senior minister Teo Chee Hean in 2015. Photo: AFP

The two ministers are tenants of two separate colonial-era bungalows in the central Holland Village district.

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