CNA938 Rewind - Liverpool tragedy: Singaporean tour operator in Liverpool
A car ploughed into large crowds of Liverpool fans during a parade celebrating the Reds Premier League title. Police say they do not believe the incident was terror related. A 53-year-old British man has been arrested. Lance Alexander and Daniel Martin speak with Mirza Salim, Founder and Director of Matchday Affairs, a tour agency organising fan trips to EPL football matches.
13 mins
CNA938 Rewind - Violet Oon – a culinary icon with a thirst for knowledge & hunger for life
In 'Made in SG', Melanie Oliveiro speaks with Chef Violet Oon, widely known as Singapore's doyenne of Peranakan cuisine. Chef Violet will discuss highlights of her culinary career which include how her turn as a music, arts critic and food journalist informed her approach to food; how she has worked closely with her two children – CEO Tay Yiming and creative director Tay Su-Lyn – to further build on her life's work. She'll also talk about her newly opened restaurant at Dempsey Hill and why she considers it a homecoming of sorts.
36 mins
CNA938 Rewind - Mad about pagodas! ACM's 'Pagoda Odyssey 1915: From Shanghai to San Francisco'
In 'Destination Anywhere', Melanie Oliveiro finds out about Asian Civilisations Museum's ongoing exhibition 'Pagoda Odyssey 1915: From Shanghai to San Francisco', featuring 84 hand-carved models , together for the first time in over a century. Dr Kevin Lam, Senior Curator for Chinese Art at ACM will talk about how the pagodas were originally made in Shanghai, and will highlight iconic pagodas from different regions and historical periods.
16 mins
CNA938 Rewind - Reunion 3.0 – a one-day concert featuring a rich tapestry of heritage tunes
In 'Culture Club', Melanie Oliveiro speaks with the key people involved Reunion 3.0, part of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre's Cultural Extravaganza 2025 festival. Reunion 3.0 is a one-day concert on 31 May performed by Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra Alumni. Conductor & curator Dr Lien Boon Hua will describe how it'll embrace a diverse repertoire of music – from the cross-cultural Jewel of Srivijaya to modern-day 'Ghibli's Delivery Service' and more. Benjamin Boo, percussion soloist for Reunion 3.0, will talk about the different instruments he'll play and what makes Reunion 3.0 truly unique.
32 mins
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CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Hyflux trial: Ex-CEO Olivia Lum's lawyer grills lead investigation officer
SINGAPORE: The lead defence counsel for Olivia Lum Ooi Lin, the former chief executive officer of now-defunct homegrown water treatment firm Hyflux, on Monday (Aug 11) grilled the investigation officer in charge of a probe into the company's top officers about the way she handled the investigation. Lum, 64, is on trial for two charges under the Securities and Futures Act for leaving out information about Hyflux's Tuaspring project pertaining to its sales of electricity in two key public statements in 2011. Hyflux successfully bid for the project in 2011, in response to a tender conducted by the Public Utilities Board, now known as PUB. The project had been pitched to the market as Hyflux's second and largest seawater desalination plant in Tuas, with the company raising S$400 million (US$310 million) from the issuance of preference shares. However, the company allegedly did not reveal at the time that it would fund the sale of water at a very low price to national water agency PUB, with a new business of selling electricity from a power plant it would build. Hyflux, Singapore's first publicly listed water treatment and seawater desalination company, later suffered massive losses after a fall in electricity prices and entered liquidation in July 2021. The collapse of the company left investors with significant losses, including about 34,000 investors holding perpetual securities and preference shares who were owed a total of S$900 million. DAVINDER SINGH PLACES IO UNDER CROSSHAIRS On Monday afternoon, Lum's lead lawyer Senior Counsel Davinder Singh questioned the prosecution's first witness about the manner in which she had taken statements from Lum. In response to his questioning, lead investigating officer Wei Maojun, Jacqueline from the Commerical Affairs Department (CAD) shared her background: She studied accountancy at Nanyang Technological University before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers as an audit associate. She then joined the CAD in 2014. "So you have never been in the industry? In the market, in listed companies?" asked Mr Singh. "Yes," said Ms Wei. She added: "I may not have had experience in the corporate world, but in my experience as an investigator ... we do (understand) the (SGX) listing rules. Besides that, we did seek views from regulators, experts and the prosecution before ... (framing) the charges," she said. She had agreed earlier to Mr Singh's suggestion that she had been the one who came up with what was defined as the omitted information in the charges faced by Lum. Initially, she said she approached a securities expert, Mr Kevin Gin, before the investigations into the case commenced. She agreed that she had provided Mr Gin with a document called "terms of reference", where she asked Mr Gin to assume certain facts concerning the allegedly omitted information in forming his expert opinion. Mr Singh questioned Ms Wei on when she provided the terms of reference to Mr Gin, but she said she could not remember. "You see it's interesting that you say that about events that took place just two to three years ago. You can't remember, right?" said Mr Singh. "You were the IO in charge of this investigation. And getting expert opinion was an important part of this investigation." The judge intervened and said it would not be fair to ask Ms Wei on the stand like that to test her memory, asking if she could look at some notes or her diary. Mr Singh then showed evidence to Ms Wei that the terms of reference had been given to Mr Gin in December 2023. "It would therefore appear, Ms Wei, that my client was charged in November 2022 about omitting the information, even before you obtained Mr Gin's expert report in relation to the implications of the omission of the information, correct?" asked the seasoned lawyer. Ms Wei agreed. "Therefore, I suggest to you that what happened was that, having come to the view of what the information was, which should have been included but was omitted, you then set about to get an expert to back you up on that, right?" asked Mr Singh. He also put it to Ms Wei that when Lum was charged, Ms Wei "did not even have Mr Gin's expert view on the implications of the omission of the information". Ms Wei disagreed and said the investigators had engaged Mr Gin and sought his view even before investigations commenced. However, she later agreed with Mr Singh when he said it was she who came up with the list of information that should have been disclosed and not Mr Gin. Mr Singh then repeatedly asked Ms Wei about specific questions she had asked Lum during her statement taking. He pointed out that Lum had stated many times that she simply could not recall because it had been nine or 10 years ago. At one point, Mr Singh parsed an answer by Lum in a police statement, saying that Lum was saying it happened 10 years ago and that she could not recall primarily because of the time gap. Ms Wei replied: "Possibly." "Not possibly, primarily," said Mr Singh. "You had trouble with two years ago." Ms Wei responded that it was not for her to speculate how Lum felt. CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT At another point, Mr Singh pointed Ms Wei to one question she had asked Lum during the statement recording, where Ms Wei asked Lum why Hyflux had not disclosed the "extent of the significant revenue exposure". Lum had said "I cannot remember why we didn't do so". She then added: "I also want to let you know that we have to abide (by) a confidentiality agreement signed with PUB, so there were limitations on the extent of disclosure we can make as well." Mr Singh questioned Ms Wei on whether she was aware about this confidentiality agreement. "Did you yourself check and confirm there was this confidentiality agreement?" asked Mr Singh. "I don't recall whether we did check whether there is a confidentiality agreement," answered Ms Wei. "But it's an important point that she made, right? And yet you didn't check it?" asked Mr Singh. "We asked if PUB would have concerns if they wanted to disclose (certain things), so in a way we did check," said Ms Wei. "But that's not answering my question," countered Mr Singh, repeating his question again. Ms Wei later said the investigators did ask for a few agreements between PUB and Hyflux, and they understood that as part of the agreement, there was "some confidentiality involved", with regard to the proposal and the purchase of water agreement. Mr Singh had earlier told the court that he would take at least the whole afternoon to cross-examine Ms Wei. Once he is done, the lawyers for the other accused former leaders of Hyflux will take their turns cross-examining Ms Wei on Tuesday. The others on trial are Cho Wee Peng, 56, former Hyflux chief financial officer; as well as former independent directors of Hyflux Gay Chee Cheong, 68; Teo Kiang Kok, 69; Murugasu Christopher, 66; and Lee Joo Hai, 69. The trial is set to continue until Wednesday this week, before resuming next Monday. Trial dates have been set as far as January next year. If convicted of consenting to Hyflux's intentional failure to disclose the electricity sale information to the securities exchange, Lum can be jailed for up to seven years, fined up to S$250,000, or both.
Independent Singapore
an hour ago
- Independent Singapore
'They really gave their best' — Singapore U20 women's team narrowly defeated by Kyrgyz Republic
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Under-20 Women's Team did their very best during the second Group B match in the AFC Under-20 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers against the Kyrgyz Republic. However, under the blazing heat of 35 degrees, the national squad was narrowly defeated 1-0. Regardless of the team's defeat, head coach Fazrul Nawaz was proud of the athlete's performance, especially given the punishing heat. Nawaz expressed: 'They really gave their best, even though the weather was quite testing for them. They really showed their tenacity, their desire. They really wanted it, and just one moment of lapse in concentration, and then we conceded out of nothing. It happens in football.' The coach also admitted that creating chances to score is one of the things that the team needs to work on more in order to win. If the team is finally able to achieve the right strategy and keep moving forward, Nawaz stated that the momentum will eventually come. 'One thing I liked from today's performance was our courage to play out from the back. There were some moments we weren't as calm, but after we sorted that out, we were calm, and we were getting out of the opponents' press… That was one of the positives that I really like to take away from this game,' he added. On social media, Midfielder Kyra Taylor also shared her sentiments about the team's game performance, stating that they played really well and have learned so much from their last game. However, despite being connected in the field, she shared that they got very unlucky not to score. View this post on Instagram A post shared by FAS (@fasingapore) Highlights of the match Captain Sarah Zu'rishqa initially dominated the midfield by winning the ball and passing it to the attackers. At one point, she also had the chance to score herself; however, her free kick in the 23rd minute went over the crossbar. The winning goal happened in the 25th minute when Kyrgyz defender Kostiuk Karina kicked the ball a long way and got past Singapore's goalkeeper Chantale Lamasan. Moreover, forward Mulan Ayliffe took advantage of a bad pass in the 35th minute and set up Cara Chang, and the shot went just wide of the goal. Mulan then skillfully got past a defender to score once again, but her shot went just over the bar. During first-half stoppage time, Sarah made an attempt from a corner, but the defense of their opponent was strong, and their goalkeeper saved the ball. There were times when the referee stopped the game for the players to cool down due to the intense heat, but Singapore kept on pushing hard to clinch their first goal. In the 55th minute, Cara had another great chance to score but missed once again. Singapore tried to keep up with its opponent's defense but failed to do so. Nawaz believed that luck was not on their side, and he did not want players to feel disappointed because they managed to play the game that they wanted. He said, 'I don't want our players to feel disappointed. I want them to know that they can compete at this level, and after two tough games, they have shown that they can really compete at this level.'
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
Court orders granted against immigration consultancy firms, their operator over misleading practices
SINGAPORE: The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) has obtained court orders against two immigration consultancy firms and their operator for engaging in unfair trade practices. VED Immigrations and SAVA Immigrations, as well as a third firm, Paul Immigrations, were found to have misled consumers into believing that there was an urgent need to apply for Singapore permanent residency (PR), and that the firms could guarantee the success of applications made through them. In a media release on Monday (Aug 11), CCCS said that the "mastermind" behind the firms' trade practices was one Mr Cheng Yong Teck. Investigations into the firms began after the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) received several complaints regarding Paul Immigrations' sales tactics. CASE continued to receive complaints against the firm even after it signed an agreement to stop the misleading practices. After CCCS found that Mr Cheng had ceased Paul Immigrations' operations but resumed similar practices through VED Immigrations, the focus of its investigations shifted to the latter firm. Then, investigations found that Mr Cheng was also operating through another business, SAVA Immigrations. All three immigration consultancy firms' websites included forms that allowed potential customers to check their chances of obtaining permanent residency. According to CCCS, instead of receiving results online after filling out the forms, these individuals would receive phone calls inviting them for "free consultations". "During these consultation sessions, sales staff would make unsubstantiated claims about rapidly changing PR rules and intense competition from other applicants, to try to persuade customers to apply as soon as possible," said Singapore's consumer watchdog. "The sales staff would then make baseless guarantees of PR application approval if customers engaged their services. "CCCS found no reasonable basis for the businesses to make such claims or guarantees, except to close the deals." Customers paid up to S$10,000 (US$7,790) for such services. Investigations revealed that Mr Cheng was responsible for directing the operations of these businesses and was deliberate in implementing the misleading trade practices. When Paul Immigrations was investigated, Mr Cheng continued to operate through the other businesses to evade detection. CCCS said: "Cheng personally wrote scripts on what staff members needed to do and say to prospective customers, monitored their sales tactics through closed-circuit television footage and implemented a punishment-and-reward system to ensure that his staff members followed his methods." A district court on Jul 22 ordered Mr Cheng, VED Immigrations and SAVA Immigrations to cease the unfair trade practices; publish details of the court orders on online platforms used for marketing their services and in major newspapers in Singapore; inform all potential customers about the court orders before entering into contracts with them; and notify CCCS about any changes to their business structures, as well as to Mr Cheng's employment status and his control or ownership of his businesses. CCCS said that this is its first court action against a person who used new business entities to conceal unfair trade practices. Its chief executive Alvin Koh said that consumers' insecurities and unfamiliarity with Singapore's immigration system were exploited by the three firms, misleading them into paying substantial sums of money. "The mastermind attempted to evade detection by closing the initial business while continuing the same practices through other businesses,' said Mr Koh.
