PUB officer issued formal reprimand after falsifying documents for $7.95m contract

A PUB officer who falsified documents involving a contract of the national water agency has been issued a formal reprimand and the officer’s performance grade will be downgraded, said Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu in Parliament on Sept 22.

- Chin Hui Shan

She was responding to questions on lapses and irregularities discovered in PUB contracts, which were highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Office’s (AGO) annual audit of government ministries and agencies released on Sept 9.

The contracts include one valued at $7.95 million to supply biocide for midge control, and a $6.75 million contract for waterscape works.

Speaking about the biocide contract, Ms Fu said that PUB has completed its internal investigation and found the case of documentation falsification to be the fault of an individual officer.

She said that the documents were altered to include required information that had been omitted. She added that the alterations were done to “cover up the incompleteness of the original documents to be provided to the AGO auditors”, but pointed out that the contents were factual.

Under the contract, the contractor had to provide certificates of analysis from an accredited laboratory to show that the biocide met required specifications. The AGO found signs of possible irregularities in the soft copy of all six certificates that PUB had submitted for audit.