FMSS boss described Sylvia Lim as ‘hopeless’ in phone call
She recorded conversation with KPMG executive in which she criticised WP chairman
A conversation in which scathing remarks were made about Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim was secretly recorded by the person who was lashing out at her.
Ms How Weng Fan, who held various key roles in Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), had recorded her 2016 phone conversation with an executive of audit firm KPMG.
During the phone call, she described Ms Lim as "hopeless" and said AHTC would die on her watch. She also blamed Ms Lim for her husband's death in 2015.
Ms How then volunteered the recording as evidence for a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit brought against eight defendants, including Ms How and Ms Lim, over alleged improper payments AHTC made to its managing agent FM Solutions & Services (FMSS) and its service provider, FM Solutions and Integrated Services.
Ms How and her late husband Danny Loh, both WP supporters, were FMSS' main shareholders. The couple also held key appointments in AHTC from 2011 to 2015, when FMSS stopped work in the town council in July that year.
This chain of events was established yesterday when Ms How was cross-examined by lawyer David Chan, who is representing AHTC, which has been asked by an independent panel to sue three WP MPs and two of its own towncouncillors over $33.7 million in payments AHTC had made between July 15, 2011 and July 14,2015.
Mr Chan's questions follow questions raised on social media by some people, who wanted to know how the recording was made. It had been the subject of her testimony on Monday.
Ms How, however, told the High Court yesterday, which was the 17th and last day of the trial, that she did not inform the KPMG executive she was recording the call.
During re-examination by her lawyer Leslie Netto, Ms How also reiterated that a letter of intent that FMSS sent to AHTC on June 22, 2011, was not a confirmation that FMSS had been awarded the contract.
She said she needed Ms Lim's reply first, which she received two weeks later.
"While we have undertaken the commitment (to take on liability and risk as a company), we equally needed the commitment from her… We needed the documents to buy insurance. It was a bit uncertain if (WP) was still going to proceed to give FMSS the contract then," she added.
Besides Ms How, five other people who worked with AHTC, including one FMSS shareholder and three ex-staff, also took the stand yesterday.
This wrapped up 17 days of hearings that began on Oct 5 in a case alleging that payments made to FMSS were improper and void, as Mr Low and Ms Lim have acted in breach of their fiduciary duties.
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