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PR Newswire
27-12-2017, 02:32 PM
http://www.todayonline.com/business/kepp...ay-experts
While corrupt practices may be rife in the offshore and marine sector particularly in some emerging markets, these companies ought to hold themselves to more stringent standards given the Singapore Government’s pristine reputation and tough stance against graft, the experts stressed.
“Like it or not, stakeholders will hold Keppel Corp to a higher standard by virtue of (Singapore’s state investment firm) Temasek Holdings being its largest shareholder. As a GLC, it will need to be even more stringent in embedding the right culture, and in sieving out corrupt, unethical and illegal practices,” said accounting associate professor El’fred Boo from the Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Business School.
Associate Professor Mak Yuen Teen, from the Department of Accounting at National University of Singapore Business School, added: “Even though we say that our GLCs are governed by their own boards and run by their own management, they are... still government-controlled companies with their shares held through Temasek. And as the controlling shareholder, Temasek has a stewardship role over the GLCs and need to hold the boards and management accountable
In recent years, several Singapore Technologies (ST) Marine executives — including its former group financial controller Ong Teck Liam and ex-chief operating officer Han Yew Kwang — have been hauled to court for conspiring with others to making petty-cash claims for fake entertainment expenses. The court had heard that corrupt payments were made by ST Marine — a subsidiary of defence conglomerate ST Engineering — to secure more business by bribing the employees of its customers who had sought ship repair services.
The latest case casts doubts on Keppel’s credibility, the experts pointed out.
“With this Petrobras case now being proven, there will be concerns as to whether there are other cases. It is very important for Keppel Group to do a thorough review of its businesses - especially in high risk industries and high risk countries,” said Assoc Prof Mak. “Any future lapses will have even greater implications.”
Some of the experts said that Keppel’s reputation could be hit by the bribery scandal, making it harder to win business deals.
Assoc Prof Mak added: “(The Keppel case) is very serious. We have never seen penalties of such scale for a Singapore company, although we have seen much larger penalties for some overseas multinational companies... It’s a wake-up call as Singapore companies do business overseas (and) this is a key risk they must pay attention to.”
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While corrupt practices may be rife in the offshore and marine sector particularly in some emerging markets, these companies ought to hold themselves to more stringent standards given the Singapore Government’s pristine reputation and tough stance against graft, the experts stressed.
“Like it or not, stakeholders will hold Keppel Corp to a higher standard by virtue of (Singapore’s state investment firm) Temasek Holdings being its largest shareholder. As a GLC, it will need to be even more stringent in embedding the right culture, and in sieving out corrupt, unethical and illegal practices,” said accounting associate professor El’fred Boo from the Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Business School.
Associate Professor Mak Yuen Teen, from the Department of Accounting at National University of Singapore Business School, added: “Even though we say that our GLCs are governed by their own boards and run by their own management, they are... still government-controlled companies with their shares held through Temasek. And as the controlling shareholder, Temasek has a stewardship role over the GLCs and need to hold the boards and management accountable
In recent years, several Singapore Technologies (ST) Marine executives — including its former group financial controller Ong Teck Liam and ex-chief operating officer Han Yew Kwang — have been hauled to court for conspiring with others to making petty-cash claims for fake entertainment expenses. The court had heard that corrupt payments were made by ST Marine — a subsidiary of defence conglomerate ST Engineering — to secure more business by bribing the employees of its customers who had sought ship repair services.
The latest case casts doubts on Keppel’s credibility, the experts pointed out.
“With this Petrobras case now being proven, there will be concerns as to whether there are other cases. It is very important for Keppel Group to do a thorough review of its businesses - especially in high risk industries and high risk countries,” said Assoc Prof Mak. “Any future lapses will have even greater implications.”
Some of the experts said that Keppel’s reputation could be hit by the bribery scandal, making it harder to win business deals.
Assoc Prof Mak added: “(The Keppel case) is very serious. We have never seen penalties of such scale for a Singapore company, although we have seen much larger penalties for some overseas multinational companies... It’s a wake-up call as Singapore companies do business overseas (and) this is a key risk they must pay attention to.”
Send this user a private message Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply