National Kidney Foundation Singapore Scandal - Early Accusations

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, 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. 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."

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" 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. 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. Days since the 2007 civil suit began, there have been calls by the public to redress the grievances of the three abovementioned whistle-blowers.

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.