T. T. Durai


Thambirajah Tharmadurai, better known as T. T. Durai, is a Singaporean who formerly served as the chief executive officer of the non-profit health organisation National Kidney Foundation Singapore. The central figure in the 2005 National Kidney Foundation Singapore scandal, he was ultimately convicted for deceiving the NKF into paying S$20,000 to his interior designer friend, and sentenced to a three-month jail term.

Lawsuit over ''The Straits Times'' article

Durai and the National Kidney Foundation sued Singapore Press Holdings and its senior correspondent Susan Long over an article published in The Straits Times on April 19, 2004. Four days after the article appeared, the NKF served a writ on the newspaper.
The NKF objected to the first six paragraphs of the article, which carried an account from a plumber who worked on the attached bathroom of Durai's private office suite. The plumber said he "lost it" when he had to install, among other things, "a glass panelled shower, a pricey German toilet bowl and a gold-plated tap". The article said the taps were "scaled down" after Durai's outburst.
When contacted regarding the plumber's story, the NKF responded that it was "difficult for us to give an answer to enlighten your readers" since the newspaper had not said who the man was. Durai had the gold tap replaced with a steel one the week after the article was published.
The NKF claimed that the paragraphs implied it had misused funds collected from the public and splurged them on its CEO's office; that it mismanaged public donations; that it had "scaled down" the installations only because the plumber protested; and that it avoided providing details on the alleged incident.
The Straits Times argued that the alleged incident was true, and therefore justified publishing, and that the entire article was not defamatory but a fair comment on the lack of transparency and controversy surrounding the NKF.
Two days into the trial, which had been scheduled to last ten days, the NKF withdrew the defamation suits against SPH and the journalist.

NKF's reserves

The court was told that the NKF's reserves stood at S$262 million as of July 2003.
SPH's lawyer, Davinder Singh, said during the trial that the NKF had been telling Singaporeans that its reserves would not last more than three years, according to statements made by its officials. He argued that if the NKF stopped all fundraising activities and concentrated on treating kidney patients, it would still have enough money to see through its operations for 30 years, based on its expenses scheduled for 2003.
In June 2005, the NKF had told The Straits Times that it needed about S$2,600 per month to support each of its 2,000 patients, a total of S$62.4 million per year. The charity cited those figures to bolster its argument that its reserves were not excessive. Based on its expenditure of more than S$60 million a year for dialysis, the reserves would last three years. However, on 12 July 2005, during the trial, the court was shown how the NKF in fact spent far less on dialysis than the public had been led to believe. According to its 2003 audited financial statement, the NKF spent S$31.6 million that year on dialysis and transplantation. Of that amount, S$22.9 million came from dialysis fees it collected from patients and a further S$1.5 million came from other related income. This meant that the NKF was out-of-pocket by only S$7.2 million.
Durai initially disagreed with Singh, saying that no-one could be sure patients would continue to pay their share for the treatments. However, he finally agreed that the NKF's assertion that the reserves would last only three years was 'not accurate'.
Singh noted that even if the NKF had to foot the entire dialysis bill of $31.6 million a year, its current reserves of S$262 million would last more than eight years.

Number of patients the NKF served

Singh argued that the NKF had overstated its patient numbers, and this would have given the impression to the public that more funds were needed to run its operations.
In May 2004, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan informed Parliament that the NKF had treated 1,414 patients in 1999 and 1,512 patients in 2003. A letter written to The Straits Times in April 2004 by Gerard Chuah, the chairman of its Children's Medical Fund board, had claimed that the NKF had 3,000 patients. Singh pointed out the number had been overstated by about 1,000. Durai said he realised there was a mistake only after the letter had been published, but had not corrected it.
During cross-examination, Durai admitted that an overestimate had been made and not corrected. When asked why he had done nothing to correct it, Durai said, "It was an oversight. I did not think it was of material importance. The donor gives us money because of the brand of the NKF and I did not think it was so important at that point of time to correct this error."
Singh suggested that the number had been inflated to create a false impression of need. In fact, according to Khaw's statement in Parliament, the NKF's "share" of kidney patients in Singapore had dropped, from 54% in 1999 to 44% in 2003.

Durai's salary

Durai was paid a monthly salary of S$25,000 in 2002 and received 10 months' performance bonuses for that year, making a total of S$550,000 for 2002. He was paid a monthly salary of S$25,000 and received 12 months performance bonuses, amounting a total of S$600,000 in both 2003 and 2004. He was paid a total of nearly S$1.8 million in three years from 2002 to 2004. These figures were closely guarded secrets until the trial. There were many occasions when he declined a pay rise but was paid the offered increase in salary, backdated to the time he was offered the pay rise, the following year.
Singh said that Durai had tried to give the impression in his affidavit that he was being thoughtful when he agreed to come on board as CEO in 1992 for just $12,000 a month even though he had been offered $20,000. The truth, Singh said, was that Durai had agreed to the lower pay in exchange for freedom to earn extra income outside the NKF. Durai testified that his earnings were up to the board of directors to decide, admitting that he was unethical but arguing that he was not to blame for accepting them.

First class air travel

NKF volunteer Archie Ong and aero-modelling instructor Piragasam Singaravelu, who claimed that they had seen Durai travelling in first class on airlines while making NKF business trips, were taken to court separately in 1998. Both apologised and paid damages and costs to the NKF after realising they were effectively fighting a losing battle against the unlimited monetary resources of the NKF.
The NKF, including chairman Richard Yong, had maintained that senior executives flew business class for long-haul flights.
Durai told the court on 11 July 2005 that he did flew first class. For the past two years, he had been entitled to a fare equal to Singapore Airlines business class rate – the equivalent of first class on other airlines. Previously, he had paid the difference on his own.

Cars

It was revealed during the trial that the NKF had a fleet of eight cars with company drivers and Durai was one of six officers who could make use of them at any time. The office cars were also used to transport VIPs and guests of the charity. In his affidavit, Durai said that the office fleet was used by officers who had to visit NKF facilities to attend to the needs of the centres and patients. Durai also had his own Mercedes-Benz 200 for his personal and family use, and his wife also drove it. However, the NKF paid the car's road tax and picked up the bills for maintenance and repair.
Singh questioned Durai on the cars. Durai said that, as CEO, he was entitled to use any of the cars any time he wanted. He also admitted that he had used the office cars for personal use.

Durai's undeclared directorships outside the NKF

While Durai worked full-time as CEO of the NKF, he was also a director of a number of other companies. He was paid sums of up to S$25,000 a year by them, over and above his NKF remuneration package. He never told the NKF board about some of these, and did not list these directorships in his curriculum vitae.
It was also revealed that Durai had a business relationship with Matilda Chua, a one-time employee of the NKF, who left to start her own company. Not only did he invest in her business, but the NKF also gave her telemarketing contracts, and she eventually became a member of the NKF board as well.
When Singh produced Durai's CV and asked if it were complete, Durai answered, 'Not exactly.' He disclosed that he had once worked for a company known as Bonyad Marketing Industries, which he described as an Iranian charity, for S$7,000 a month. A December 1995 article in The American Spectator describes Bonyad Marketing Industries as a "special arms trading company" that had "in addition to spare parts for Iran's U.S.-built F-4 and F-5 fighters... been purchasing large quantities of Hewlett Packard and Sun SparcServer computers for use in Iran." Durai said that he was Bonyad's representative in Singapore from 1990 to 1992, but decided to give that up when he became NKF's CEO. Durai admitted that in 2000 he had invested in Chua's company, Global Net Relations, but did not disclose to the NKF board that he was a director of the company.
Singh then probed him on the director's fees he had collected while he was working full-time as the NKF's CEO.
Durai said he was paid S$25,000 a year each as a director of Amcol Holdings between 1990 and 1996 and an Australian company, Overseas & General, "for a couple of years". He also received "some nominal sum" as a director of MediaCorp TV Channel 12.
Singh told him, "The position is this: While you were expected to be and paid as a full-time CEO, you were earning fees outside NKF which were not disclosed to the NKF or to the public."
Durai replied, "That's correct. The NKF board gave me the liberty to do so."
Singh continued, "Mr Durai, your CV is yet another illustration of the lack of transparency with which you operate. You do not come clean on what you do, you do not tell the board what you do, how much you earn. You do not tell the board about your commercial relationship with a person who has a contract with the NKF. Is that transparency?"
Durai said, "They were not very consequential, in my opinion." He said it was not necessary for him to disclose to the board and added that the directorships were "just appearances".

Subsequent fallout and public backlash

Just after the trial, when Tan Choo Leng, patron of the NKF and wife of former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, was interviewed, she commented that "$600,000 per year is peanuts compared to the reserves the NKF has." This then sparked the "Peanut Controversy", in which the public was irked by this comment. The public then called for her to apologise for this statement, which Goh Chok Tong did on behalf of his wife.
In the days following the trial, around 30,000 donors terminated their monthly contributions to the NKF. An online petition was set up, calling for Durai to step down, which, as of writing, has 43,589 signatures on it. The morning after the trial, the wall outside the NKF headquarters in Kim Keat Road was vandalised by an unknown person, most probably angered by the lack of transparency in NKF. Spraypainted all over the wall were the words 'liar'. On one wall, the words "liar" and "god of liars" were spraypainted in Chinese characters along with the Malay words "Hang Turi", the misspelling referring to Durai. The NKF signboard was also vandalised with the words "liar" spray painted in both English and Chinese. The graffiti was quickly painted over and the affected areas of the signboard was quickly covered up. These acts were severely condemned and police investigations were carried out.
On 14 July 2005, Durai and the NKF Board met with Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to discuss the future and was told that 'business as usual' would not do. That evening, the NKF called a press conference, during which Durai and the entire NKF Board announced their resignations.
An interim board was appointed by the government to keep the organisation going and begin the task of restoring public confidence. Gerard Ee was appointed as interim chairman to oversee the restructuring of the NKF, and Goh Chee Leok took over the post as interim CEO.

KPMG investigation into NKF

The international accountancy firm KPMG investigated the business activities of NKF and issued a report on 16 December 2005, including the following conclusions:
It was reported that Durai spent much of his time reading at home and spending time with his wife, two sons and daughter. Before the KPMG report was out, his daughter wrote a passionate letter to the news media, pleading for the public to restore honour to her father. Durai had refrained from reading newspapers and watching television after the controversy.
Durai said that he was prepared for the worst, referring to any legal charges that would be laid on him.
In an affidavit submitted to the High Court on September 7, 2007, Durai revealed that has secured a high paying job. He had accepted the position of CEO of a new subsidiary company under Singapore-based real estate management firm Property Facility Services – a job that would pay him S$25,000 a month.
Durai would be based full-time in Abu Dhabi after he had finished serving his sentence.

Charges and bail

Durai was formally accused of having submitted false invoices between 2003 and 2004 to the NKF to make claims for various consultancy services which were never rendered. One invoice was for S$20,000 and the other, S$5,000. Durai was said to have misled the charity by using the false invoices "knowingly... with intent to deceive ". Anyone who uses a false or erroneous document, which to his knowledge is intended to mislead, is guilty of an offence under Section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Durai was released on bail of S$100,000, which was posted by his wife.
On June 11, 2007, Durai was found guilty of misleading the charitable organisation with a falsified invoice of S$20,000 which was allegedly for interior design consultancy work done by David Tan, the director of the design firm. The invoice, dated December 29, 2003, was meant for work done for various dialysis centres. For this, Durai was sentenced to three months' imprisonment on June 21. He could have been jailed for up to five years and fined S$100,000.
In 2007, Charles Letts, a former Jardine Mattheson & Co director, saved Durai from bankruptcy with a gift of S$1 million. Letts died in 2013.
On May 30, 2008, Durai lost the appeal as the presiding judge, Tay Yong Kwang, said that Durai "was in a position of trust and authority at the NKF and the return of the money only came about after investigations into the invoices were underway." The judge added that the "money in question belonged to a charity whose funds come from well meaning trusting donors".
Durai's sentence was maintained. However, the judge allowed Durai to defer his sentence to June 10, 2008 because his elderly mother went for a cataract surgery on June 3.
A second charge, concerning the S$5,000 invoice, was considered on June 27, 2007. The money was allegedly paid to a company called Decision One International, in September 2003, for finding suitable candidates for a senior management position in the organisation. However, investigations reveal that no such service was rendered to NKF. The charge was later dropped.
Durai was released from Queenstown Remand Prison on 11 August 2008.

Dengue fever

On July 16, 2007, Durai was admitted to National University Hospital after contracting dengue fever. His condition was reportedly stable.