Singapore probes rail planners' property buys near future MRT stations

The Singapore government, through the Public Service Division under the Prime Minister's Office, has initiated a review of property purchases made by rail-planning officers between 2007 and 2011 following a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper that alleged civil servants bought homes near future MRT stations using privileged information. While the paper's statistical findings raise concerns, the PSD cautioned that they alone do not demonstrate access to non-public data or that such data influenced the buys, noting that some information may already have been public or used in marketing.

The review will scrutinise each transaction, concentrating on properties within a 1 km radius of stations later announced, and any evidence of misuse will be referred to the police and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau. The division highlighted long-standing rules that require officers to declare property interests, control access to sensitive information, and obtain approval before personal transactions, and said these safeguards have been strengthened over time.

It added that any allegations will be investigated based on concrete evidence. The academic paper, authored by scholars from Columbia, Stanford and the University of Hong Kong, claimed mid-level officials and their relatives gained roughly S$138 million in excess value from pre-announcement purchases.