Training Center Loses First Part of $1.4 Million SkillsFuture Claims Lawsuit, Ordered to Repay $778,000

SINGAPORE – A training provider who sued SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) for failing to pay more than $1.4 million in claims has lost its case for wrongful termination of contract.

The High Court also ordered the Center for Competency-Based Learning and Development (CBLD) to repay more than $778,000 in grants disbursed to the government agency.

The center had sued SSG for $1.4 million in 2021 after the agency terminated its contract to fund courses the company had taught.

This lawsuit concerns only his claim for $591,121.90 in relation to certain categories of training scholarships. The claim relating to the other categories will be known later.

SSG said it had the right to terminate the contract because its investigations showed that the center had provided false information in its claims and had misled the agency.

The agency also filed a countersuit to recover a portion of the grants it had disbursed to the center.

SSG said the sum it sought was a fraction of about $7.8 million it had provided in funding to the CBLD from 2010 to 2020.

On May 8, Senior Judge Lee Sieu Kin ruled that the contract had been legally terminated and ordered the center to pay $778,839.49 to the agency.

The judge had offset SSG’s counterclaim of $793,083.79 with a sum of $14,244.30, which he claimed CBLD was entitled to receive under the contract.

The sum was for training sessions conducted before October 16, 2020, the day the center received a notification from SSG indicating its intention to terminate the contract.

In his written ruling, Judge Lee found that CBLD had provided information and documents to SSG in its claims submissions that “were not true, accurate and complete to the best of its knowledge and belief.”

SSG, represented by Mr Cheong Chee Min of Lee & Lee, submitted statements from 14 students who attended courses related to cleaning the centre.

The trainees were interviewed by the agency between December 14 and 23, 2020.

CBLD, represented by Mr. Keith Hsu of Emerald Law, presented testimony from its trainers and legal statements made by four of the 14 trainees.

The center had arranged for the statements to be made on June 28, 2021, about two months before suing SSG.

In his opinion, Judge Lee found that, for two students, the center had failed to provide training for up to 75 per cent of the course duration indicated on the attendance sheets he submitted.

For example, one of them’s attendance sheets indicated that the course lasted 14 hours and took place in a specific location.