NKF CEO's $600,000 pay revealed in court
NKF CEO's $600,000 pay revealed in court
By Bertha Henson
July 12, 2005
The Straits Times
A CLOSELY guarded secret of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) was finally made public yesterday: the salary of its chief executive T.T. Durai.
Gasps could be heard in the courtroom when it was revealed that on top of his $25,000 a month salary, he also received 10 to 12 months in yearly bonuses. That makes his annual salary between $550,000 and $600,000, or $1.8 million in total over the past three years.
This fact, and the disclosure that he had flown first class on NKF's funds, emerged on Day 1 of NKF's defamation suit against Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).
The NKF, which is entirely dependent on public funds, offers dialysis treatment to kidney patients. Two out of every three Singaporeans contribute to it.It is taking issue with a Straits Times article by senior correspondent Susan Long published on April 19 last year, which stated that a gold-plated tap had been installed and later replaced in the private bathroom in Mr Durai's office suite.
The NKF and Mr Durai contend that this was not the case and that the words in the article, 'The NKF: Controversially ahead of its time?', had damaged their reputation by implying that donors' funds were being misused. The hearing yesterday was delayed by the NKF's application for special damages of $3.24 million, which it claimed was what it lost in donations following the publication of the article. Justice Tan Lee Meng threw out the application and ordered the NKF to pay SPH's legal cost for its last-minute move.
At the hearing, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, acting for SPH, noted that the tap in question cost $990, expensive by his standards although Mr Durai did not agree. The lawyer sought to show that the NKF was neither honest nor transparent about the way it uses donors' funds.
He told the court he had to ask the NKF three times, twice through the courts, to have the salary of its CEO made public.
Mr Durai, represented by Senior Counsel Michael Khoo, was the only witness who took the stand yesterday. Among those in the gallery was NKF patron, Mrs Goh Chok Tong, wife of the Senior Minister, who left midway through the hearing.
Mr Durai argued that he was not required by law to tell the public what he earned, even though he conceded that they paid his salary. Also, he wanted to protect his personal privacy.
Mr Singh asked: 'The man who earns $1,000 a month who donates $50... every month thinking that it is going to save lives, should they not know that that is the kind of money you earn?' Replied Mr Durai: 'I don't see the need for him to know.' He denied Mr Singh's charge that he refused to disclose his salary as he knew he would lose moral authority with donors.
Mr Durai's travel perks also came under scrutiny.
Not only had the NKF maintained consistently - as recently as in the April 19 article - that none of its executives flew first class, it had threatened to sue people who said Mr Durai did so.
At least two people have had to apologise publicly and pay damages and costs for saying they had seen Mr Durai travel first class, as the NKF said this implied he was wasting donors' funds.
Under questioning, he admitted he had flown first class on some airlines. His explanation: The NKF board allowed this as long as he did not bust the Singapore Airlines business-class rate.
Mr Singh countered: 'Isn't it your duty as a trustee of people's monies to make sure that you get best value on a business-class seat instead of deploying this clever tactic... using it for first class on another plane?'
Mr Durai replied: 'This is a decision made by the board. I used the entitlement.' The entitlement, he added, kicked in only in the past two years. Previously, when he flew first class, he had paid the difference out of his own pocket, he maintained.
Mr Singh noted that although he now flew first class, Mr Durai did not correct his chairman Richard Yong's assertion in the April 19 article that 'there is no such thing as first-class travel'.
'The reason you hide the truth is because you know that that is the wrong thing to do, using people's money, and you know that is mismanagement of donations.'
Mr Durai was asked if he should now 'do the right thing' by the two individuals who had paid him damages and costs for saying what he had now admitted in court. He said no, sticking to his claim that at that time, he did not travel first class using NKF funds and when he did so, he paid the difference himself.
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