Ms Indranee called on MPs and the public not to be misled by Mr Leong's assertions, and to "reject these bogus allegations". Read more at straitstimes.com.
"Mr Leong's entire motion is an attempt to portray the Government as profligate and heedless of our expenses," she said. In a clarification, Mr Leong asked whether the Government could say that the information he cited was not useful and that his allegations were without basis if it did not bother to answer the questions he had raised. [had explained the basis for the termination sum of $1.5 billion,](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/costs-of-terminating-sports-hub-ppp-represented-fair-deal-for-government-says-edwin-tong) and that most of it was made up of capital expenditure that the Government would have had to bear in a traditional procurement model. [the Sports Hub deal,](https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/sportsg-to-take-over-ownership-and-management-of-sports-hub-from-private-consortium-on-dec-9) Mr Leong said he believes the Government had been "overly generous" in estimating the fair open market value and remaining financial liabilities of the Sports Hub, and, if so, is paying more than it should to the Sports Hub private consortium. Ms Indranee, who is also the Second Minister for Finance, called on MPs and the public not to be misled by Mr Leong's assertions, and to "reject these bogus allegations and support the Government". "So, if objectively, the rationale and the figures are laid out, and if he does understand them, then there's only one other conclusion, which is that this can only be a deliberate and cynical attempt to stoke anxiety and disquiet, confuse Singaporeans, and damage the Government."
SINGAPORE — Ms Indranee Rajah, Second Minister for Finance, chided Mr Leong Mun Wai, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), for not understanding ...
In response, Ms Indranee said that Mr Leong’s approach is to ask a question whenever the Government explains a set of figures. This parliamentary committee examines various accounts of the Government to meet public expenditure. She said: “A charitable view is that Mr Leong genuinely does not understand the expenditure figures or the rationale that has been explained… “And every time, the Government is required, according to Mr Leong, to respond to all of these, which have no bearing to the figures of the original transaction. “Then in a giant leap of logic, he then attempts to link the Sports Hub and the SPH Media Trust matters to a completely unrelated issue — the GST and now also to ComCare.” On Mr Leong’s point that the termination sum was too high, Ms Indranee, who is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the full cost of termination is comparable to the financial obligation the Government would have to pay SHPL if the Government had chosen to continue with the contract. Mr Leong also said that the cost of S$1.2 billion in outstanding financial liabilities that the Government took over from SHPL for the construction of the Sports Hub was “too high”. In her response, Ms Indranee said that Mr Leong's “various allegations” about the Sports Hub and SPH Media Trust were “without basis”. In the case of the Sports Hub, Mr Leong questioned the “significant expense” incurred by taxpayers in the form of the In the case of SPH Media Trust, Mr Leong questioned the “significant outlay” of taxpayers’ money of up to [non-profit media entity SPH Media Trust](https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/sph-restructure-media-business-not-profit-entity) and the termination of the public-private partnership to operate the Sports Hub, claiming that they cost a total of S$2.4 billion in taxpayers’ money. [Indranee Rajah](https://www.todayonline.com/topic/indranee-rajah), Second Minister for Finance, chided Mr [Leong Mun Wai](https://www.todayonline.com/topic/leong-mun-wai), Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), for not understanding expenditure figures or the rationale behind government spending, and for trying to "stoke anxiety and disquiet" among Singaporeans.
Mr Leong, the NCMP from Progress Singapore Party, had questioned the financial reasoning behind the Government's decision to provide funding support for SPH ...
The government's rationale behind the SPH Media Trust and Sports Hub decisions have previously been discussed in Parliament.
In persisting with these insinuations, Mr Leong is doing a disservice to Singapore, to our Government and to our public servants, charged with the sacred ...