GE2025: DPM Gan ‘surprised' at WP questions on Income-Allianz deal during rally, after not raising them in parliament
SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP) should have raised its questions about the proposed deal between Income Insurance and German insurer Allianz when it was discussed in parliament last year, but it did not, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Tuesday (Apr 29).
The aborted deal became an election campaign issue when WP chief Pritam Singh said last week that not a single labour MP had raised the matter in parliament.
In its rally on Monday, the WP once again raised the issue, pointing to Mr Gan's role as chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board of directors. MAS, as the financial regulator, would have had to approve the deal.
Mr Gan said on Tuesday that he was 'surprised' that the opposition party reiterated their questions on the subject in its rally the day before, adding that the WP had its chance to do so and seek answers on the matter last year.
'I would have taken that they understood the issue, they accepted the issue,' said Mr Gan, who spoke to reporters in Punggol, where he is leading a four-member People's Action Party (PAP) in the contest against a WP team.
The proposed deal, which was announced last July, was first discussed in parliament on Aug 6 last year, with questions to two political office holders filed by five People's Action Party MPs, one WP MP, one Non-constituency MP and a Nominated MP.
The WP had eight MPs in parliament at the time.
'We talked about the deal, and that was the time when we said that we had a relatively positive attitude towards the deal. We want to support the deal, because it will help Income. But when more details were furnished, we decided to have to stop the deal,' said Mr Gan.
After the deal was blocked, parliament again discussed it on Oct 16 during the debate on the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, which was tabled to allow the government to block the acquisition. The debate lasted close to four hours and involved nearly 20 MPs from both sides of the House.
The Bill was eventually passed with seven abstentions from the WP.
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