NKF sues SPH on defamation
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wat does he really handle?Originally posted by snk86:for a CEO that handle so much? -
Do you think the suer will EVER win? Whats the chance of winning against Mrs Goh?Originally posted by FireIce:sue her next? -
Hi. Any one heard of the NKF Building's wall kanna dirtied? Now police are there guarding...
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Dragg, did you do it?Originally posted by winbob:Hi. Any one heard of the NKF Building's wall kanna dirtied? Now police are there guarding... -
CEO of a profit-driven company can earn as much as he wants.Originally posted by snk86:sue her and taste the wrath of the Lee and Lee lawyers........
anyway, come to think of it, for a CEO of such a big organisation, 600k actually seems reasonable from the financial point of view, but well, it is a charity organisation, still, what you all expect him to get? 5k per month? for a CEO that handle so much? i mean, at least give them a little breathing space lah
BUT NKF is a *Charitable Organisation*, how can they squander OUR money like that?
If u want to continue to sarport Durai's extravagant lifestyle, go ahead and keep donating lor....
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ok, well, their building with golden tap is a little too much lah, but 8 company own cars for VIP ferrying, i am sure an organisation like Red Cross have much more than that, i mean, ok, useing company funds for private vehicle is really not right, so yes, he should do alot of corrections, but, not to the standard of telling NKF to go die right? and on what a CEO have the handle, why not you try asking any CEO of a major company? it is not a easy job, thou, well, very good pay i supposeOriginally posted by Zooish:CEO of a profit-driven company can earn as much as he wants.
BUT NKF is a *Charitable Organisation*, how can they squander OUR money like that?
If u want to continue to sarport Durai's extravagant lifestyle, go ahead and keep donating lor.... -
Is Durai a Singaporean or is he a foreign talent?
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Maybe his mother is a hokkian
have a hard time during delivery...
very dulan.... then named him Durai -
i've posted this in another thread... repost here again:
There surely more dirt underneath
How abt that chairman?
How much $$ he receive?
How abt the board of directors?
Is Durai pushed to the frontline so that other ppl can hide safely under his shadow?
Is the case close?
Is the authorities(gahmen) gonna take the lead into some form of investigation?
Will gahmen 'pressure' and intimidate ST to hush things down?
Is there a 'Public Counsel' in the judicial System? I believe the public will gladly fund him/her to get NKF open its account books.
What role Mrs GCT plays in NKF?
She is often being brought up in the news, because she is the wife of MrGCT.
She is 'suay', in that sense that ppl expected a prominant figure to say something sensible.
Why reporters never go interview the Chairman, and the whole bunch of directors?
What roles do those affliated companies of Durai play?
Is there a possibility that these companies 'overcharged' NKF for their services, so that Durai can 'legally' channel money to his own pockets?
It seems that gahmen do not wish to get involved in this case
No sound from any members of the PAPaya gang
PM is now overseas
PM respect SPM
if SPM wants to protect his wife, what will PM do?
Durai claim that it was some sort of mistake in reporting the wrong figures, be it the amt of reserves they hold, or the amt of patients they have
Anyone with a working brain knows that this is just a lie. An excuse.
The first year of reporting, may be a mistake
But how can one make the same mistake for the 2nd and 3rd year?
Isnt this a planned delibrate deceiving?
If you all were to calculate,
for every $1 of treatment,
NKF subsidise $0.276
Patients 2pay $0.724 -
No need for NKF to die, just need a full disclosure of its exact operating expenditures. Its OUR money they're using, at least they should be accountable to us.Originally posted by snk86:ok, well, their building with golden tap is a little too much lah, but 8 company own cars for VIP ferrying, i am sure an organisation like Red Cross have much more than that, i mean, ok, useing company funds for private vehicle is really not right, so yes, he should do alot of corrections, but, not to the standard of telling NKF to go die right? and on what a CEO have the handle, why not you try asking any CEO of a major company? it is not a easy job, thou, well, very good pay i suppose
Time for them to come clean, make improvements and we all can move on. For now, the best way to make them realise that they've betrayed a nation's trust is to boycott them. -
Mrs Goh being a lawyer should have been more tactful. Her 'peanuts' comment will come back to haunt her. She really should have kept her mouth shut.Originally posted by OldAhPek:What role Mrs GCT plays in NKF?
She is often being brought up in the news, because she is the wife of MrGCT.
She is 'suay', in that sense that ppl expected a prominant figure to say something sensible.
Why reporters never go interview the Chairman, and the whole bunch of directors?
Anyway, she's the patron of NKF, so in a way, she has to be held responsible for the actions of NKF.
You think the BOD and chairman will want to be interviewed at a time like this? They're doing whatever they can to avoid the press. -
sg is not utopia.. it good to know the rot under all that artificial "goodness"Originally posted by dragg:i am trying very hard.
seems like all the bad things in singapore are slowly creeping out, one after another. -
Quote : For that year, the NKF received $24.4 million for patient fees for dialysis but spent some $31 million for these operations.
Can someone enlighten if the 31 million spent includes salary for NKF staff ?
If CEO earns 600k pa, I assume total pay p.a. for NKF staff will be more than 6mil.
24 + 6 = 30 !!! -
Posted this on another thread...tot of sharing my tots here too...
Is she serious abt the "peanuts" comment???
Come'on... to declare what 10 -12 mths bonus on public donations???
the $25000 monthly salary...ok, justified to retain and keep "top talent" to run the donation organization well...
the $21 m bldg...ok, justified to use as a "lure" of luxury to hire "top guns" to work in a 'not-for-profit' organization, to raise the standards expected (not work in a container...)...
but why so many months' bonuses??? how 2 justify?
because managed to rake in more donations so it was a great year, and therefore declare bigger bonus??? then by rite, the public should donate less becoz whatever we donated more (in hope of benefitting the needy) ended up as someone else's salary and bonuses! nope, i cannot begin to agree that this is justifiable....
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Can't believe Mrs Goh actually said such a thingy...
600K for a CEO of a business(profitable) entity may be peanuts... but definately not in the case of a charitable organisation... those donations are meant to help the needy for goodness sake... Just look how much efforts our celebrities, both local and overseas put in performing (artises also turn into stunt man/women liao worz).... how hard people work to get these donations, hoping these will benefit the needy... in the end it ( a huge proportion) turned into peanuts..and in the CEO's pocket it went... yes.. and that gold tap + $1100 toilet bowl? *faints*
Further more their $220m reserves can last them at least a decade....they claimed it can last only for 3 years.. and they overstated their patient figures by 1000.... and that CEO said it isn't a material overstatement.....I wonder how he measures materiality. It looks more like intentional deception. Unless NKF change their way of managing.. no way I'm gonna donate to them again...in fact I havent been donating for the past few years since sec4.. but my family members did... -
To rebuild, one must excavate the foundations and be prepared to live in actual hardship for a while.Originally posted by mistyblue:sg is not utopia.. it good to know the rot under all that artificial "goodness"
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Yes... But if that fellow is caught, he can end up locked up waiting to be canedOriginally posted by dragg:news reported that the main entrance of NKF's HQ are filled with graffitis.
singaporeans are really very angry.
i am very fuming i can feel smoke coming out of me!!!!
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And I see why the salary and everything is dug out... See who is the lawyer that SPH employed? Of course he would try all ways to win the case...
Even those the report have been defamatory as the report was quite "offensive" through accusations -
Just like the 'quitters' commentOriginally posted by Zooish:Mrs Goh being a lawyer should have been more tactful. Her 'peanuts' comment will come back to haunt her. She really should have kept her mouth shut. -
Current Board Members
PATRON Mrs Goh Chok Tong Lawyer
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Immediate Past Chairman Dr Khoo Oon Teik
Chairperson Mr Richard Yong
Vice-Chairperson Associate Prof. Lawrence Chia Director, Special Projects, Sheares Hall, National University of Singapore
Mr Alwyn Lim Certified Public Accountant
Ms Lee Seok Tin
Honorary Secretary Mr T T Durai
Honorary Treasurer Mr Loo Say San General Manager Vigers International Property Consultants (S) Pte Ltd
Assistant Honorary Treasurer Mr Kweh Soon Han Partner, Kweh Loy & Lee
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Controversies surrounding the NKF
National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) defamation suits against the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH)
The Case
The National Kidney Foundation and its chief executive officer T.T Durai are suing the Singapore Press Holdings and senior correspondent Susan Long for an article she wrote on April 19, 2004.
The NKF objects to the first six paragraphs of the article, which carries an account from a plumber who worked on the attached bathroom of Mr Durai's private office suite.
The plumber said he 'lost it' when he had to install, among other things, 'a glass panelled shower, a pricey German toilet bowl and a gold-plated tap'.
The article says the taps were 'scaled down' after his outburst. When contacted for a response to his story the NKF said it was 'difficult for us to give an answer to enlighten your readers' since The Straits Times would not say who the man was.
Four days after the article appeared, the NKF served a writ on the paper.
THE ISSUES
The NKF says the paragraphs implied it had misused funds collected from the public and splurged them on its CEO's office; that it mismanaged public donations; that it had 'scaled down' the installations only because the plumber protested; and that it avoided providing details on the alleged incident. The Straits Times is arguing that the alleged incident is true, and therefore justified publishing, and that the entire article was not defamatory but a fair comment on the lack of transparency and controversy surrounding the NKF.
THE PLAYERS
Plaintiffs are the NKF and CEO T.T. Durai, represneted by Senior Counsel Michael Khoo. Defendants are The Straits Times and Ms Susan Long represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh.
THE RESULTS
NKF had since withdrew the defamation suits against SPH and journalist bringing the supposed 10 days trial to the end in 2 days.[2]
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Controversies Uncovered During the case
1) On NKF's reserves.[3]
The court was told it stood at S$262 million as of July 2005.
Mr Davinder Singh says NKF has been telling Singaporeans its reserves won't last more than 3 years, according to statements made by its officials, however he argued that if the NKF stopped all fundraising activities and concentrated on treating kidney patients, it would still have enough money to see through its operations for 30 years, based on its expenses scheduled for 2003.
In June 2005, the NKF had told The Straits Times that it needed about $2,600 a month to support each of its 2,000 patients, a total of $62.4 million per year.
The charity cited those figures to bolster its argument that its reserves were not excessive. Based on its expenditure of more than $60 million a year for dialysis, the reserves would last 3 years, it said. But on 12 July 2005, during the defamation case NKF had launched against Singapore Press Holdings, the court was shown how the NKF in fact spent far less on dialysis than the public had been led to believe.
According to its 2003 audited financial statement, it spent $31.6 million that year on dialysis and transplantation. Of that amount, $22.9 million came from dialysis fees it collected from patients and a further $1.5 million came from other related income. So NKF was out of pocket by only $7.2 million.
Mr Durai initially disagreed, saying that no one could be sure patients would continue to pay their share for the treatments. But he finally agreed that NKF's assertion that the reserves would last only 3 years was 'not accurate'.
Mr Singh noted that even if the NKF had to foot the entire dialysis bill of $31.6 million a year, its current reserves of $262 million would last more than 8 years.[4]
2) On the number of patients that NKF serves.[5]
Mr Davinder Singh argued that NKF had overstated its patient numbers and this would have given the impression to the public that more funds were needed to run its operations.
In May 2004, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan informed Parliament that the NKF had treated 1,414 patients in 1999 and 1,512 patients in 2003. A letter written to The Straits Times in April last year by the chairman of its Children's Medical Fund board, Dr Gerard Chuah, had claimed that the NKF had 3,000 patients. Mr Singh pointed out the number had been overstated by about 1,000. Mr Durai said he realised there was a mistake only after the letter had been published, but had not corrected it.
Mr Singh asked: 'So in addition to the travel and the reserves, we now know that even the number of patients that were being put out as being treated by NKF was erroneous and remains uncorrected; right?' 'Yes,' Mr Durai replied.
When asked why he had done nothing to correct it, he said: 'It was an oversight. I did not think it was of material importance. The donor gives us money because of the brand of the NKF and I did not think it was so important at that point of time to correct this error.'
Mr Singh suggested that the number had been inflated to create a false impression of need. In fact, according to Mr Khaw's reply to Parliament last year, NKF's 'share' of kidney patients in Singapore had dropped, from 54 per cent in 1999 to 44 in 2003.[6] -
3) Mr T.T. DURAI'S SALARY[7]
Mr T.T Durai was paid a monthly salary of S$25,000 in 2002 and recieved 10 months performance bonuses(S$250,000) for that year, making a total of $550,000 for 2002. He was paid a monthly salary of S$25,000 and recieved 12 months performance bonuses(S$300,000) S$600,000 in both 2003 and 2004. He was paid a total of nearly 1.8 million Singapore dollar in 3 year from 2002 to 2004.
Excerpts of questioning of Mr Durai by Mr Singh:
Davinder Singh: Mr Durai, can you tell this court what your salary and bonuses were for 2002?
T.T. Durai: I was earning a monthly salary of $25,000.
Davinder Singh: And your bonus?
T.T. Durai: Performance bonus was 10 months.
Davinder Singh: Ten months' bonus! $250,000 bonus. This is for 2002.
T.T. Durai: I cannot recall the exact figure.
Davinder Singh: So, if it is $25,000 a month, multiply that by 12, your total package was $550,000 in 2002.
T.T. Durai: I believe so.
Davinder Singh: 2003, please?
T.T. Durai: You have the numbers. I don't have the numbers offhand.
Davinder Singh: Tell us, please, so that we don't waste time.
T.T. Durai: About the same I think. I cannot tell you offhand now.
Davinder Singh: About the same, meaning $550,000 or slightly higher?
T.T. Durai: About that.
Davinder Singh: How many months' bonus did you get in 2003?
T.T. Durai: Twelve months.
Davinder Singh: In 2004, what was the bonus?
T.T. Durai: Same bonus.
Davinder Singh: Twelve months at $25,000 a month.
T.T. Durai: Yes.
Davinder Singh: So for the past three years you have earned about $1.8 million from the NKF.
T.T. Durai: Yes.
Davinder Singh: And the man who earns $1,000 a month who takes out $50 of his pay packet every month thinking that it is going to save lives, should he not know that that is the kind of money you earn?
T.T. Durai: There is nothing wrong with the money I earn.
Davinder Singh: $1.8 million, I wonder what is wrong. $1.8 million. Should the man who takes $50 out of his pay packet of $1,000, leaving $950 for him, his wife and his children, with no savings, should he not know that some of that money is going or has gone into a $500,000 to $600,000 pay package for you?
T.T. Durai: Surely he knows.
Davinder Singh: Tell me, how does he know?
T.T. Durai: Let me explain. People donate money to the NKF to run a dialysis programme that saves lives. We have built a dialysis programme. We run...
Judge: Please answer the question.
Davinder Singh: You said: 'Surely he knows.'
T.T. Durai: No, I am saying a person who contributes to the foundation knows that there are people working in the institution.
Judge: No. The question is, should that person know that you are earning $500,000, $600,000 a year? It is a simple question.
T.T. Durai: No, your honour, I do not see a need for him to know.
Davinder Singh: Thank you. It has nothing to do with privacy. It is about embarrassment, is it not?
T.T. Durai: No.
Davinder Singh: You would lose all authority, all moral authority to look at him in his eyes, isn't that right?
T.T. Durai: That is not true.
Davinder Singh: If he knew that you were flying first class on his money, you could not look him in his eyes, isn't that true?
T.T. Durai: It is not true.
Davinder Singh: If he knew that his salary couldn't even buy the bathroom fittings in your private office suite, you couldn't look him in his eyes.
T.T. Durai: That is not true.
Davinder Singh: We now understand why you say the $990 tap is not expensive. Well, coming from you at $600,000 a year, we now know why you say it is not expensive. But tell us, for that man with $1,000/$2,000, is it expensive?
T.T. Durai: Yes, he may consider it expensive.
Davinder Singh: He may, or is it? Tell us the truth.
T.T. Durai: I cannot speak for him. It depends on the type of building, the use of the item.
Davinder Singh: The man in his HDB one-room, two-room, three-room flat, earning a salary of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 - would he find that tap at $990 plus 10 per cent discount expensive?
T.T. Durai: He may consider it expensive, yes.
Davinder Singh: He may, or will he?
T.T. Durai: If he is an educated person, if he knows the use of the particular office, for what purpose, he may probably think it is something reasonable.
4) Mr T.T. DURAI flew 1st class when he travels at the organisation's expense.
NKF volunteer Archie Ong and aero-modelling instructor Piragasam Singaravelu who said Mr T.T. DURAI flew 1st class were taken to court separately in 1998. Both apologised and paid damages and costs to the NKF.
The NKF, including chairman Richard Yong, had maintained that senior executives fly business class for long-haul flights.
Mr Durai told the Singapore court on 11 July 2005 that he does in fact fly first class. For the past two years he has been entitled to a fare equal to SIA's business-class rate - which can translate to first class on other airlines. Previously, he paid the difference himself.
Excerpts of questioning of Mr Durai by Mr Singh:
Davinder Singh: Can we have a straight answer to this question and listen very carefully to it: Using NKF's funds, have you travelled first class? A straight answer, you are on oath.
T. T. Durai: Yes, NKF has not paid for...
Davinder Singh: No, no. My question is very simple. Using NKF's fund have you ever travelled first class?
T. T. Durai: No.
Davinder Singh: Is that the honest truth?
T. T. Durai: I have travelled on NKF's business-class entitlement. I have used it to travel first class.
Davinder Singh: I ask you one more time. Forget entitlement. Money. NKF money used. You travel first class?
T. T. Durai: Yes.
Davinder Singh: You have?
T. T. Durai: Yes, on business-class entitlement. -
Hi all,
I want to say 2 things :
1. A big THANK YOU to SPH for being professional and not back down on bullies
2. in this case, 2 victims: the public and the patients. Public fund is being misused and the sick patients are being used to get fund from public.
This is really really unthink of for a charitable and non-profit organisation. -
SPH did the right thing...Originally posted by fooyl:Hi all,
I want to say 2 things :
1. A big THANK YOU to SPH for being professional and not back down on bullies
2. in this case, 2 victims: the public and the patients. Public fund is being misused and the sick patients are being used to get fund from public.
This is really really unthink of for a charitable and non-profit organisation.
But the report 'accused' -
The main issue is that both T_T Durian and Mrs Goh forget that this is a non-profit government organization..
If its privately owned then nothing can be said
. The "business model" the NKF has generated millions of dollars for the organization, but the non-for-profit charity might have too much lawsuits trying to keep the mouths shut.