Four ministers, including K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan, will deliver ministerial statements on the rental of two Ridout Road bungalows when Parliament sits on Monday.

Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean will speak on the review of rentals for 26 and 31 Ridout Road, while Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong will speak on the rental of state properties.

Shanmugam, who is the Minister for Law and Home Affairs, and Vivian Balakrishnan, who is the Minister for Foreign Affairs, will deliver separate statements.

On June 28, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) released details of its probe into the rentals of No 26 Ridout Road, by Shanmugam, and No 31 Ridout Road, by Balakrishnan.

The CPIB, which had been directed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to investigate the matter, found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing by both ministers in the rental of these state properties.

SM Teo also released a separate report on the same day to address wider potential process or policy issues beyond the scope of CPIB’s investigations.

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He concluded that both ministers and the public officers and private sector intermediaries involved had conducted themselves properly in the two transactions.

The ministerial statements will address 23 questions filed by MPs.

Their questions centred on how both properties were advertised to potential renters, the fairness and transparency of the bidding process, the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) standard tenancy operating procedures, and how the terms of the lease agreements compare with those of similar properties.

Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang GRC) asked about the circumstances under which the properties came to be rented out to the ministers, and how SLA had marketed the two properties to be leased.

Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok) asked what were the steps taken to market, tenant and renew the tenancies of 26 and 31 Ridout Road, and what measures have been put in place to ensure that any bidder participating in the tender is not provided with any advantage over other bidders.

Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir) asked what SLA’s standard tenancy procedures are, whether SLA followed those procedures, and what the rental rates are for the properties.

Don Wee (Chua Chu Kang GRC) asked how many of such similar properties there are in Singapore currently, whether the rental rate is benchmarked against the private residential market, and whether SLA has a transparent process to list all these properties available for rental.

Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh asked how the government will assure the public that both ministers did not receive any privileged information about their leases, and what was the guide rent set by SLA for each of the properties when they were leased out to both ministers.

Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) asked if there are plans to redevelop more of the land that is currently occupied by black-and-white colonial bungalows for more productive uses such as public housing, industry or commerce.

He also asked if the bidding process of these SLA-managed bungalows is audited by the Auditor-General’s Office every year, and if not, when the latest audit was conducted.

Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai asked why SM Teo was tasked to review the ministers’ tenancy instead of someone from another branch of government, such as a Supreme Court Judge.

Fellow NCMP Hazel Poa asked why the rental bid for 26 Ridout Road was made by an agent, whether SLA knew that the Minister for Law was the principal behind the bid, and if so, how and when SLA came to know of this.

Three Bills will also be introduced at next week’s sitting: the Public Utilities (Amendment) Bill, the Oaths, Declarations and Notarisations (Remote Methods) Bill, and the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment No. 2) Bill.

Poa and Leong have also filed a motion calling for the abolition of group representation constituencies.

Workers’ Party MPs Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC) and Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap (Aljunied GRC) filed a motion to celebrate the accomplishments of Singapore’s athletes and para-athletes at the 32nd South-east Asian Games and the 12th Asean Para Games in Cambodia.

They also called on the government to undertake a thorough evaluation of the areas of improvement in Singapore’s sporting ecosystem, and commit to achieving clear, achievable goals for sporting success over the coming decade. THE STRAITS TIMES