| Associated
Press April 18, 2006 SINGAPORE A SINGAPORE court on Tuesday, Apr 18, charged the former chief executive of the country's largest charity with two counts of corruption, after accusations of ethical lapses at the organization led to an official probe. The National Kidney Foundation's former head, T.T. Durai, faces two charges of misleading the charity about payments amounting to a total of 25,000 Singapore dollars (US$15,595; €12,750), court documents showed. For each charge, Durai faces a maximum penalty of a fine of S$100,000 (US$62,410; €51,007) and five years in jail. He is out on bail of S$50,000 (US$31,200; €25,502). His pretrial hearing is scheduled for April 25. Durai resigned in disgrace in July after court revelations about the charity's spending habits and his salary led to a rare public outcry in a nation that prides itself on good corporate governance. He had also then admitted overstating the number of kidney dialysis patients in Singapore in an apparent bid to garner more donations. Durai's two charges were of misleading the charity about a payment of 20,000 Singapore dollars (US$12,480; €10,180) for interior design consultancy for dialysis centers in 2003, and about another payment of S$5000 (US$3120; €2550) to an executive hiring firm in the same year. Besides Durai, four other former officials in the charity were charged Tuesday for offenses ranging from accepting bribes to falsification of accounts and failure to use reasonable diligence in carrying out their duties. Singaporeans were outraged by courtroom revelations in July where Durai said he earned a S$25,000 (US$15,000; €12,547) monthly salary, flew first-class and used several Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The foundation - long a favorite charity for many Singaporeans - has reserves of S$260 million (US$157 million; €128 million). |
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