SUSS Podcast · Singapore University Of Social Sciences

Community: Opening Eyes into Corporate Governance (Part 1)

·23 min·1 clip

Brazil’s health secretary was prosecuted over 1,000 ventilators, and most were never delivered.

1. SUSS Podcast’s "Community: Opening Eyes into Corporate Governance (Part 1)" focuses on COVID-19, governance, and corruption risks. 2. Host Omer Ali Saifuddin from the Singapore University of Social Sciences speaks with Associate Professor So Kee Hian, Head of the Criminal Investigation Minor at SUSS School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences. 3. The episode asks why the COVID-19 pandemic increased corruption risks and what governments can do about it. 4. Kee Hian says SUSS organised the International Conference on Governance and Corruption because the pandemic left governments grappling with governance and corruption control. 5. He says the conference brought international participants together to share lessons on what works, what does not work, and what challenges remain. 6. Omer cites studies showing healthcare corruption costs about US $455 billion a year and about 6% of total global healthcare costs. 7. Omer also notes that up to 25% of worldwide public expenditure is estimated to be lost to corruption and fraud. 8. Kee Hian says pandemic procurement creates risks because governments must move quickly on medical supplies, PPE, face masks, sanitizers, ventilators, and vaccines. 9. He argues that transparency, information sharing, and post-event checks are needed even when normal tendering cannot operate in real time. 10. He says the government must still signal clearly that nobody can make a quick buck "in a very surreptitious manner." 11. Kee Hian points to the Ebola crisis from 2014 to 2016 in Africa as an earlier example of crisis-linked corruption. 12. He says the Red Cross reported about US $6 million lost to embezzlement and other irregular practices during Ebola response efforts. 13. He also mentions reports of "sex for jobs" and bribery for death certificates during that crisis. 14. Kee Hian says crisis conditions combine massive public funding, expedited procurement, economic downturn, and international financial aid from institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. 15. He gives Brazil as an example, saying a health secretary was prosecuted over inflated contracts for about 1,000 ventilators that were mostly never delivered. 16. He also cites Bolivia, where the health minister was dismissed over ventilator allegations and hospitals reportedly paid more than US $600,000 for body bags worth about US $46,000. 17. In Singapore, he says the CPIB and anti-corruption agencies maintain vigilance, and he cites Singapore’s fourth-place ranking in the 2021 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. 18. He describes a Choa Chu Kang vaccination-centre case involving a $50 bribe offer to falsify a second Pfizer injection record, plus a separate fraud case involving surgical masks and PPE. 19. The conversation has a direct, explanatory style with Omer asking for examples and Kee Hian answering with figures, country cases, and policy reasoning. 20. Listeners interested in governance, public procurement, and anti-corruption enforcement will get the most from this episode. 21. Listeners wanting a light, anecdotal conversation will probably skip it.

As heard by us

A steady look at how crisis governance can widen the space for corruption.

The episode pairs Omer Ali Saifuddin with Associate Professor So Kee Hian to trace how the COVID-19 pandemic stretched healthcare and supply chains while also opening space for corruption and criminal activity.

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You want a calm, concrete look at how crisis can loosen corruption controls in practice.

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