Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Evil Corporation

We have all heard various horror stories about NKF and how they abuse their funds.Well,today's ST reported on a court exchange between NKF head T.T. Durai and a lawyer.It's a dispute about whether Mr Durai travels first class on public funds.I reproduce the whole exchange here (my comments are in blue):

Davinder Singh (the lawyer): Can we have a straight answer to this question and listen very carefully to it: Using NKF's funds, have you travelled first class? A straight answer, you are on oath.

T. T. Durai: Yes, NKF has not paid for... (Ahhh..the start of the guilty child act..."Yes,I did it but not my fault lah...")

Davinder Singh: No, no. My question is very simple. Using NKF's fund have you ever travelled first class?

T. T. Durai: No.

Davinder Singh: Is that the honest truth?

T. T. Durai: I have travelled on NKF's business-class entitlement. I have used it to travel first class. (Wait a minute,who's talking about entitlement?The question is "Got travel first class or not?"Simple.U have $,4000 which is enough for SIA Business Class but can get Garuda First Class.So you chose Garuda and hence,YOU TRAVELLED FIRST CLASS,BOHDOH!)

Davinder Singh: I ask you one more time. Forget entitlement. Money. NKF money used. You travel first class?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: You have?

T. T. Durai: Yes, on business-class entitlement. (Aiyo...it's NOT about entitlement lah.This guy kindergarten education,is it?Cannot understand huh?)

To further questions, Mr Durai said he knew that an SIA business-class fare was higher than first-class fare on other airlines.

Davinder Singh: So effectively, what you have done is you have used money from the NKF ostensibly for business-class travel but really for first-class travel.

T. T. Durai: I have used...

Justice Tan Lee Meng: Yes or no?

T. T. Durai: Yes. Can I explain why?

Judge: You can but I would appreciate if you answer the questions.

Davinder Singh: You see, Mr Durai, this is public money. Isn't it your duty as a trustee of people's money to make sure that you get best value on a business-class seat instead of deploying this clever tactic of using one of the highest published rates to get first class on another plane? (I felt this should be the gist of it all.That it is a duty to get the best value for the SAME CLASS or LEVEL OF SERVICE you get can for the same amount of money as a public trustee.What's this "I got this money so I spend it all any way I want" attitude all about?)

T. T. Durai: This is a decision made by the board. I used the entitlement. (Yeah,but do you have the conscience, civil-mindedness and professionalism in your capacity as a CEO of a charity group to make the best use of funds for the organisation,an NGO charity whose money comes from people like us?)

Judge: The question is not who made the decision.

T. T. Durai: The board gave me...

Judge: Please answer the question.

Davinder Singh: Isn't it true that as a trustee of people's money, you have a duty to ensure that you get value for that money?

T. T. Durai: True. (Yeah,you admit it also huh?)

Davinder Singh: Isn't it true that you need to fly in business class for business-class comfort?

T. T. Durai: This is an entitlement given by the board to me... (Hmmm...as Yoda says...thick is he)

Judge: That was not his question. His question was, the directors feel that you deserve business-class comfort.

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: And because you deserve business-class comfort, you are given a perk of business-class travel.

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: Using the money donated by the man in the two-room HDB flat.

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: Who has never in his life seen a business-class cabin?

T. T. Durai: I would not know that. (That is true.The lawyer made such a damn weird statement here)

Davinder Singh: So you set your perk at SIA business-class rate, use that money to go first class and sue people who say that they have seen you in first class?

T. T. Durai: At that point (of the 1998 lawsuits) I didn't travel on first class. But in the past two years, the board has given me entitlement to travel business class on an SIA ticket. So I have taken the liberty to travel first class... That is what the board has decided. They know about this. (Well...ok..not your fault lah then.All the board's fault lah because they never say anything?Which is true in a sense...but then I guess NKF board members are all snakes)

IN THE Straits Times article at the centre of the current lawsuit, NKF chairman Richard Yong was quoted as saying that nobody flew first class on NKF's money.

Asked now if that statement was true or false, Mr Durai replied: 'On the basis of what you said, it is not true.'

Mr Singh asked repeatedly if Mr Yong's statement to the paper was false. At first Mr Durai disagreed.

Davinder Singh: NKF does not pay for first-class airfare from Singapore. Does this say that if Mr Durai flies from Singapore, we only pay business class? But if Mr Durai flies from other countries back to Singapore, it is first class?

Therefore, is this statement by Mr Yong to the reporter Susan Long, meant for the public and donors, true or false?

T. T. Durai: It is not accurate, yes. Your interpretation is not accurate.

Davinder Singh: How will the public read this? You have sued two people who alleged you travelled first class.

T. T. Durai: They will have a different view of it. (A fact is a fact.How can you see things differently?Garuda First Class is not First Class ah?)

Davinder Singh: They will read it to mean that none of NKF's executives including you fly first class using NKF's money, correct?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: And that is false, correct?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: Is this transparency or is this deliberate concealment of facts? We had come to this court to justify the lack of transparency. What we have now learnt is far more egregious than that. Is this a matter of transparency or an orchestrated attempt to lie to the public?

T. T. Durai: No. The board has made a decision on the entitlement - I have used my entitlement to travel the way I want for the purpose of business. It is not something I have done deliberately to deceive the public. (Fair enough actually but Richard Yong's assertion makes it hard to defend.TT might not be trying to hide anything but what about the board?They do know TT travels First Class after all.)

Davinder Singh: Are you now going to do the right thing to go to the two persons you took money from (in the 1998 lawsuits) to return it to them and to apologise?

T. T. Durai: No. I want to explain because at that time I was not travelling using NKF's money to buy a first-class ticket. I paid the difference and then travelled on first class. ... (Oh please I think TT spent it already so how to return?)

Mr Davinder Singh asked several times why Mr Yong felt it necessary to mislead the public with a statement that was not true, and why Mr Durai had done nothing to correct it.

Mr Durai replied that he had merely used his travel entitlement and did not deceive the public.

Davinder Singh: Mr Durai, one last chance before I move on because if you don't have an answer, we know what it is. Why was it necessary to mislead the public?

T. T. Durai: You ask Mr Richard Yong that question. I don't know. (Blame-thrower)

Mr Durai disagreed that his method of using his business-class entitlement to travel first class amounted to mismanagement of NKF donations.

Davinder Singh: The reason the public has been misled is that you know that if the public knew the truth, they would be upset that these methods were being used to get yourself on first class. Isn't that right?

T. T. Durai: No.

Davinder Singh: The public would be upset.

T. T. Durai: No. (He's right,we won't be upset.We'd be VERY upset)

Davinder Singh: That is why you are not telling them the truth. Why hide the truth?

T. T. Durai: I am just like every other CEO entitled to benefits and rights. We run a business organisation with a turnover of $120 million. (Business BUT still a CHARITY.You are not a profit-oriented organisation,you know?Those monies you get are supposed to be for KIDNEY PATIENTS!!!)

Judge: Why hide the truth? The question was, why hide the truth?

Davinder Singh: Why hide the truth? You see, if it is completely acceptable, completely above board, why not tell the public this is what you are doing? Why create a totally false impression, as we have seen in this article?

T. T. Durai: On hindsight, we should have done that - to say I travel on first class using a business-class airfare. (On hindsight,I'd also strike 4D every week and become the richest man in Singapore.Hind your backside lah)

Endnote: At the end of the day,NKF is a charity organisation.They should make optimal use of their funds for the right purpose - that is,help the kidney patients.Why they go about doing all these nonsense is beyond my belief.

Everytime you see on TV all those charity shows with Zoe Tay crying like a baby pleading for doantions,Tay Ping Hui using his huge breasts to lift people on carts and Chris Lee burning his armpit hair jumping through fire hoops,remember TT smiling as he sits in Cathay First Class.

Call hotline?Call my backside lah.