Mr T.T Durai, the resigned NKF chief is probably riding into the sunset now with his "Gold Taps" in tow. The shamed CEO of the famous NKF charity organization was once so rich that he could afford gold taps, gold toilets and probably a golden egg for breakfast as well.
Now with his intergrity ripped apart and golden taps dismantled, he will most probably be wondering what went wrong. In his bid to end the career of a journalist in SPH with a lawsuit, he ended up losing his when senior counsel Davinder Singh ripped him into shreds with startling revelations of his private life. At the expense of hard earned public money, Mr Durai spent it frivolously on items that he could do without. While people like those artist from mediacorp was risking life and limb to raise money for the kidney patients, Mr Durai quietly took it away and spent it on his " Gold Taps".
I wonder why he needs golden taps for. The function of taps with or without gold remains the same. He only invited more trouble to himself for so publicly displaying his ill gotten cash. To be a CEO of a charity organization, one needs to be prudent and kind hearted. Someone that is willing to be sacrificial in terms of lavish luxuries in order to identify himself with the suffering is also essential.
The CEO of a charity organization is most probably the last person on earth that you expect to be one of the richest people. After all it is a charity organization, not some profit making MNC which requires wealthy managers as a show of force to shareholders that their company is nowhere near bankcruptcy.
To be rich illegally and yet decieve the public that the funds that have been consolidated by endless 1900 112 6868 calls can only last 3 to 4 years when it could in fact last up to more than 40 years is the ultimate sin. One wonders why is Mr Durai decieving the public for. So that he could skim of more cash for more golden taps?
Indeed Mr Durai has worked hard over the years and contributed much to the charity scene in Singapore. His thankless task will indeed earn him credit. However to laud oneself of the job well done by helping himself with cash that is not his is not the way.
At the end of the whole debacle, the only people that are going to suffer are the patients of NKF. The poor victims are now going to suffer because the public does not see the organization as truly a cause to help the needy anymore. Public perception can change but the dire straits of the patients would not. Kidney patients still need dialysis and cancer patients still need money for treatment.
And if it is because of one selfish person in the organization that ruins the public's interest in charity, then surely the person must be taken to task. Indeed Mr Durai has been let of lightly with only a call for resignation. It is the public's money that he has wasted and he is lucky that no one is suing him for every single cent to be returned.