Singapore said on Wednesday it will press for charges to be laid against managers who milked the country's biggest charity, creating a scandal likely to become an issue in general elections expected as early as next year.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan promised there would be no cover-up after a report said the charity spent only 10 percent of the funds it raised on what it was meant for, gave million-dollar contracts to friends and paid generous bonuses to key employees.
But he admitted that his ministry had failed to ensure the National Kidney Foundation was run properly.
"The government has to take some responsibility for some failure," he told a news conference, brushing aside suggestions he should resign over a scandal which started bubbling in July.
"We take part of the blame for allowing this to drag on for longer than necessary," he said five months after T.T. Durai, then NKF chief executive, admitted in court he had used its funds to pay for first-class travel and gold-plated bathroom fittings.
A report by accounting firm KPMG said Durai and five staff members had also charged the NKF S$70,000 ($42,000) for a trip to Las Vegas they said was to gather fresh fundraising ideas at charity events.
KPMG called the assertion "difficult to accept".
Government leaders lent their patronage to the charity and that meant "the government had a heavier responsibility to satisfy ourselves that the organisation was properly run", said Khaw, who had defended Durai and the charity previously. "We failed in not doing so earlier," said Khaw. "We will be pressing for charges to be made," he said. "There will be no cover-up of any wrong-doing."
Analysts said the scandal was likely to be an issue in the next elections.