SINGAPORE, Sept 26 — Singapore’s government is reviewing property purchases made by officers involved in rail planning after a research paper found public servants appeared more likely than others to buy homes near future MRT stations before the locations were publicly announced.
The Public Service Division (PSD) said the review would cover purchases made between 2007 and 2011, the period highlighted in the paper, involving properties close to locations that were later announced as MRT stations, Singapore-based news outlet CNA reported today.
But the research, published earlier this month by the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research, has not been peer-reviewed and does not establish that individual civil servants committed misconduct.
The researchers said they found a higher incidence of property purchases near planned MRT stations by civil servants than by a comparable group, with the difference concentrated in the one to two years before station locations were publicly announced.
PSD said the statistical patterns were concerning, but did not by themselves establish whether any officer had access to non-public information about MRT station locations or whether such information influenced a property purchase.
“For example, information or speculation about planned MRT lines and stations may already be in the public domain or used to market new property developments,” PSD was quoted as saying last Friday.
The division said it would retrieve available records and examine the circumstances of individual transactions, noting that the purchases took place many years ago.
“If we find evidence that an officer used non-public information to make a property purchase for personal benefit, the case will be referred to the police for further investigation,” PSD said.
The paper estimated that, compared with its control group, civil servants made about 50 additional purchases of properties near future MRT stations two years before announcements and 63 additional purchases one year before.
The researchers put the gross value of those excess pre-announcement purchases at about S$138 million (RM431 million) and said the pattern was concentrated among mid-level officials and those working in agencies involved in MRT planning.
The study also reported similar patterns among people connected to the officials through shared residential addresses, although it used the term “relatives” for convenience and said this did not necessarily mean the individuals were family members.
PSD said Singapore’s public service has long had safeguards against officials using non-public information for personal benefit, including requirements to declare property purchases and controls over access to sensitive information.
It said the safeguards had been strengthened over time, with officers today required to declare and obtain approval before making personal transactions that could be affected by non-public information, including property, vehicles or financial instruments.
The paper, titled ‘Do Social Norms Substitute for Enforcement? Evidence from Public Officials’ Home Purchases in Singapore’, was authored by academics from Columbia University, Stanford University and the University of Hong Kong.
PSD said it had previously announced on September 14 that it was reviewing the paper’s data and methodology and would refer matters to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau if there was a material basis to do so.
Some Singapore academics acknowledged in the paper have since asked to have their names removed from the acknowledgements, according to local media reports.
PSD said conclusions of wrongdoing must ultimately be based on evidence and the facts of each case.
