Singapore watchdog probes Hindu temple management
By DPA, IANSWednesday, February 24, 2010
SINGAPORE - Singapore’s charity watchdog launched a probe into a popular Hindu temple’s governance and administration, the Straits Times reported Thursday.
Investigations into the affairs of the Sri Siva Krishna temple were initiated in July following a complaint by the Hindu Endowments Board to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
“Mid-last year, we realised the temple had some governance issues and there were some administrative flaws such as no proper book-keeping,” the board’s chief executive S. Nallathamby was quoted as saying.
The temple, registered as a society and charity is managed by a 16-person committee with some 1,000 devotees attending prayers weekly.
The temple’s net asset value was 2.7 million Singapore dollars ($1.9 million), with an annual income of 350,000 Singapore dollars in the 2007 financial year, Channelnews Asia reported.
The government is keeping a close eye on charities’ activities and has investigated about 2,000 of them since 2006.
