The National Kidney Foundation scandal of July 2005 remains Singapore's defining charity disgrace: after the NKF sued a newspaper for defamation, the trial spectacularly backfired, exposing chief executive T. T. Durai's S$600,000 salary, a golden tap in his office, first-class travel and false claims about the charity's finances, triggering a donor revolt and the resignation of the entire board.
The saga began when the NKF sued Singapore Press Holdings and journalist Susan Long over a Straits Times article questioning the charity's transparency. As the defamation trial unfolded, it collapsed into revelations of lavish spending and mismanagement. Singaporeans learnt that Durai, who had served the NKF for 21 years as a volunteer before becoming CEO in 1992, drew an annual salary of S$600,000, flew first class, used company cars and had a gold-plated tap installed in his private office suite. NKF patron Tan Choo Leng, wife of then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, inflamed public fury by remarking that the sum was peanuts.
The NKF had also falsely declared how long its reserves could last and inflated its patient numbers to solicit donations through its annual televised charity shows. Donors felt betrayed: the charity's signboard at its Kim Keat Road headquarters was vandalised, and donations plunged.
On 14 July 2005, after meeting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, Durai and the entire NKF board resigned. National Council of Social Service president Gerard Ee was appointed interim chairman, and a KPMG audit produced a damning 442-page report on 19 December 2005: the charity had spent S$12 million on board salaries, benefits and failed contracts, with only about 10 cents of every donated dollar reaching patient subsidies, and accounts in some cases manipulated.
Durai was arrested on 17 April 2006 and charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was convicted of fraud over S$4.5 million paid for services not rendered, sentenced to three months' jail, and ordered to repay S$4.05 million to the NKF. A S$12 million civil suit by the new board against Durai and four former board members began in January 2007.
The scandal transformed charity governance in Singapore, ushering in tougher transparency rules and a lasting public scepticism summed up in a phrase still quoted today: six hundred thousand dollars is peanuts. The NKF itself later suffered a second embarrassment in 2016 when successor CEO Edmund Kwok was sacked over a personal indiscretion involving a male staff member.
The roots of suspicion ran deep: as early as 1997, a former real estate consultant had privately accused Durai of squandering donations on frequent first-class travel. The National Library Board's historical account notes the scandal permanently raised public concern over the regulation and transparency of charitable organisations in Singapore.