T. T. Durai

Thambirajah Tharmadurai (Born 22 April 1948), better known as T. T. Durai, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Kidney Foundation Singapore (NKF). He is the central figure in the National Kidney Foundation Singapore scandal and was jailed for corruption charges.

Durai was once highly respected as the head of an extremely successful fundraising organisation. But in July 2005, Durai resigned amid controversy following the collapse of a defamation trial which the NKF brought against Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). Various revelations emerged during the trial about spending from the charity's funds on luxury items which appeared to be for the personal use of Durai and his wife.

Durai and NKF sued SPH and its senior correspondent Susan Long over an article published in The Straits Times on April 19, 2004. Four days after the article appeared, the NKF, led by Durai, served a writ on the newspaper.

The NKF objected to the first six paragraphs of the article, which carried an account from a plumber who worked on the attached bathroom of Durai's private office suite. The plumber said he "lost it" when he had to install, among other things, "a glass panelled shower, a pricey German toilet bowl and a gold-plated tap". The article said the taps were "scaled down" after his outburst.

When contacted regarding the plumber's story, the NKF responded that it was "difficult for us to give an answer to enlighten your readers" since the newspaper had not said who the man was. Durai had the gold tap replaced with a steel one the week after the article was published.

The NKF claimed that the paragraphs implied it had misused funds collected from the public and splurged them on its CEO's office; that it mismanaged public donations; that it had "scaled down" the installations only because the plumber protested; and that it avoided providing details on the alleged incident.

The Straits Times argued that the alleged incident was true, and therefore justified publishing, and that the entire article was not defamatory but a fair comment on the lack of transparency and controversy surrounding the NKF.

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