Mr Shanmugam first rented 26 Ridout Road in 2018 and renewed his lease three years later.
“When I bought my family home, I had assumed a future stream of income based on what I was earning in the private sector. After I became a minister, my income changed, and thus I found too much of my savings was tied up in one house,” he said. The Singapore Land Authority then came back with a counter-offer of S$26,500, which the minister said he “accepted without further negotiations”.
Mr Shanmugam also noted that it took him “a while” to decide on the sale of his family home and during which, he rented out the property. “I am, in essence, using my previous lawyer’s income to pay for the rental for 26 Ridout Road. Based on my current income, I would not have offered to rent 26 Ridout Road. That is based on my personal approach to finances.”There have also been questions about potential conflict of interest given how the SLA is a statutory board under the Ministry of Law, which is helmed by Mr Shanmugam.
He had told the then-deputy secretary at the Law Ministry that he would recuse himself from any discussion related to the rental of the property. “Indeed, I offered to maintain that land outside of the house boundary, at my own cost – because if the outside land was not properly maintained, there would be serious problems for me,” he said.