SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on Tuesday (Jul 17) said it will “do better” to ensure proper documentation for vehicle maintenance after three of its officers were found to have backdated some paperwork in actions SCDF described as "serious".
SCDF’s comment came after the release of a report by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) earlier on Tuesday which found that 104 vehicle maintenance records were recreated and backdated by three officers and the contractors to meet AGO’s request for records.
AdvertisementThe AGO report also found that SCDF had paid S$120,000 to contractors for services not provided.
[h=3]READ: Auditor-General finds lapses in management of contracts, gaps in IT and financial controls[/h]“SCDF had errors/lack of proper documents in respect of five per cent of the maintenance records. This five per cent includes records for decommissioned vehicles where the documents had been disposed off,” said SCDF in a statement.
“SCDF will ensure the proper maintenance of records. The erroneous payments flagged out by AGO have since been recovered.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe three SCDF officers involved have been disciplined for their “serious” actions, SCDF said. It noted that the officers made no financial gains from their actions and that the data they compiled were true and accurate.
Despite responding to more than 180,000 medical calls in 2017, the vehicle breakdown rate was 0.0007 per cent, SCDF said. There were also no breakdowns for non-medical calls involving SCDF fire-fighting and support vehicles.
“SCDF has made clear to all its officers that while ensuring its vehicles are properly maintained is of utmost importance, it is also necessary to ensure proper documentation,” it said.
“SCDF will do better on that.”
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