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Ms Susan Long joined The Straits Times in 1994 as a sub-editor in the Life section and later specialised in personality profiles, interviewing notable figures such as Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Charles Schulz.
In 2004, she investigated a controversy involving lavish spending at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and revealed extravagant expenses in NKF chief executive T.T. Durai’s office bathroom. Following her article, the NKF sued Singapore Press Holdings and Ms Long for defamation, seeking $3.24 million in damages. The 2005 trial ended abruptly when Durai admitted the allegations and dropped the suit, leading to his and the entire NKF board’s resignation. This sparked government investigations and reforms in charitable organisation governance.
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Recollections “The NKF saga had a prosaic beginning – as an assignment on an unfolding story. But it took a course of its own.
One of its most gruelling battles was having to ask the NKF three times, twice through the courts, to have the salary of its CEO revealed.
A watershed finding was an invoice for the installation – and later removal – of a Hansa Ronda gold-plated tap mixer that cost $990, before a 10 per cent discount, in the CEO’s toilet in 1995.
Right up to the week before the trial date on July 11, the plaintiffs were adamant on a retraction about the paragraphs concerning the gold-plated tap.
How do I feel about how it all played out? Incredulity best describes it.
The pace of escalation and sequence of events that led to the Supreme Court, the gravity of the revelations during the discovery process such as the pay and perks of the NKF’s senior executives, actual reserves, dialysis costs and patient co-payment details, the melodramatic way the court case played out, the retraction on the stand, the immediate fallout thereafter, followed by the long-term good it did in strengthening corporate governance in the non-profit sector.
Every scenario, as it played out, just beggared belief.
What I knew was that what was taking place then was way beyond my pay grade. All I can say is I prayed a lot!
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