A failed takeover bid by Global 500 insurer Allianz is now a political hot potato in Singapore’s election
About 2.75 million Singaporeans are eligible To vote in the general elections of the Southeast Asian Pays on May 3, and choose a Prime Minister to lead the City for the next half-receiver.
And in the nine days of the electoral campaign, one of the shortest in the world, a failed agreement between Allianz, the global insurance giant 500 and the local revenue insurance of last year's insurer is brought back under the spotlight.
Allianz proposed to take care of the revenue insurance for $ 1.7 billion last July. The agreement was controversial: the Singaporeans feared that a new business owner will repel the income of his social mission to provide affordable insurance to Singaporeans.
A few months later, in October, Singaporean officials blocked the agreement. Allianz abandoned his candidacy for taking control in December.
From now on, the politicians of the Party of the People's Action Party and its main opposition, the Workers' Party, evoke the agreement now disappeared to score political points in very contested constituencies. The main subject of the debate: why the Singaporean officials first agreed with the agreement before changing their mind later, and which did not ask questions at the time.
Speaking in a rally on Sunday, Ng Chee Meng, Head of the National Union Congress, supported The fact that the labor movement initially estimated that the takeover supply was reasonable and would have strengthened the revenue insurance. NG, who presents himself for a siege in the Singapore parliament as part of the PAP party in power, responded to the arguments that the union should have faced the agreement.
The revenue insurance was part of the NTUC umbrella. Even after the privatization of income, the NTUC company remains a majority shareholder, holding around 72.8% of the shares.
However, NG promised to “do better” During the Sunday rally. “We will do our best, and sometimes I'm sorry that it is not good enough.”
Former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong supported that the workers' party would have approved the revenue insurance agreement if the opposition party had held power. He noted that a single opposition deputy had inquired about the takeover and that the workers' party has abstained from a measure to block the merger.
Pritam Singh, head of the workers' party, in turn accused PAP's Labor deputies for not asking questions about the agreement last year.
Another member of the WP, Harpreet Singh, demanded that Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong explains his role in the space agreement, and answer to an open letter from the former CEO of Insurance Tan Suee Chieh income.
The letter, addressed to Gan and published on April 27, questions asked On regulatory surveillance, the changing role of the NTUC and the responsibility.
Tuesday afternoon, Gan request Why the opposition never questioned income at the time. But the Deputy Prime Minister also tried to explain why the Singapore government finally changed their minds on the offer of Allianz. “We want[ed] To support the agreement because it will help income. But when more details were provided, we decided [we had] To stop the agreement, ”he explained.
The election of Saturday will be the first political test for the head of the PAP, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took over the party last year. The PAP, which has governed Singapore since its independence in 1965, should remain in power as a result of the elections.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
