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The National Kidney Foundation Singapore scandal, also known as the NKF saga, NKF scandal, or NKF controversy, was a July 2005 scandal involving National Kidney Foundation Singapore (NKF) following the collapse of a defamation trial which it brought against Susan Long and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). This caused a massive backlash and fallout of donors to the charity, and subsequently resulted in the resignation of chief executive officer T.T Durai and its board of directors. Allegations surrounding the scandal included the false declarations on how long NKF's reserves could last, its number of patients, installation of a golden tap in Durai's private office suite, his salary, use of company cars and first-class air travel. Former NKF patron Tan Choo Leng, wife of Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, sparked further outrage when she remarked that T.T Durai's pay of "''S$600,000 a year is peanuts''". President of the National Council of Social Service, Gerard Ee, has since been appointed as interim chairman of the organisation. A full independent audit on its finances was conducted by KPMG, and a 442-page report released on 19 December 2005 revealed several malpractices by the former NKF board and management. Durai was arrested on 17 April 2006 and charged under the Prevention of Corruptions Act by the Police. A S$12 million civil suit to recover funds by the new NKF board against Durai and four other former board members began on 8 January 2007. ==Early accusations== In August 1997 and December 1998, NKF volunteer Archie Ong and aero-modelling instructor Piragasam Singaravelu respectively were hauled to court separately for defamation when both said that T.T. Durai had been flying first class. The former mentioned in April 1997 that the NKF "squandered monies" in a casual conversation with former chairman of NKF's finance committee Alwyn Lim,〔"Why so silent, Mr Alwyn Lim?", Low Ching Ling, ''The New Paper'', 24 December 2005〕 while the latter has claimed that he had personally seen Mr Durai in Singapore Airlines' first-class cabin. Both paid an undisclosed amount of damages to the NKF, and apologised.〔"T. T. Durai: I should have said, I travel on first class", Bertha Henson, ''The Straits Times'', 12 July 2005〕 News of the suit affected Ong's cancer-suffering father, who eventually died in hospital. Shortly after the 2005 scandal broke, Ong mentioned to the press that he felt "''fully vindicated now. I had more than a hundred calls today to wish me well.''"〔"''Mr NKF, the court-happy combatant''", Conrad Raj, ''The New Paper'', 13 July 2005〕 In 1999, NKF tracked down and again took legal action against Tan Kiat Noi, who allegedly circulated an e-mail from her company e-mail on 5 April, claiming that "''the NKF did not help the poor and needy, paid its staff unrealistically high bonuses''"〔"''NKF acts against e-defamation''", Samantha Santa Maria, ''The New Paper'', May 1999〕 and discouraged members of the public from donating. She later published a public apology on local broadsheets The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, and paid a total of S$50,000 in damages.〔"''NKF: Controversially ahead of its time?''", Susan Long, The Straits Times, 19 April 2004〕 48 additional workers who forwarded the same e-mail were also sued by the organisation, but the suit was later dropped in consideration that they would face possible financial hardships.〔"''Action dropped, don't do it''", Ng Wan Ching, ''The New Paper'', 22 May 1999〕 Days since the 2007 civil suit began, there have been calls by the public to redress the grievances of the three abovementioned whistle-blowers.〔"''Pay back damages in ' flew first class' suits''", Lau Guan Kim, The Straits Times Forum, 13 January 2007〕 In 2001, the National Council of Social Service refused to renew the NKF's "Institution of Public Character" (IPC) status (which allows it to collect tax-free donations), citing that subsidy figures had been inflated, staff costs had increased by 30% and a "''disproportionate''" amount of money was spent on fundraising. Concerns were first raised by both by the Health Ministry and NCSS two years ago. However, the former decided to intervene in January 2002 and reinstated the NKF's IPC status for a full three years.〔"NCSS warned NKF and raised alarm back in 2001", ''The Straits Times'', 22 December 2005〕〔"(Regulators wasted opportunity to prevent NKF saga: KPMG report )", Julia Ng, Channel NewsAsia, 19 December 2005〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「National Kidney Foundation Singapore scandal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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