Manpower Minister Josephine Teo has issued letters of demand to two people in Singapore asking them to withdraw unwarranted accusations, but stopping short of suing them in court.

Teo said she asked her lawyers to act to demand those who made allegations withdraw their statements.

The recipients of the letters are Jolovan Wham and Donald Liew, her lawyers said.

False statements

The lawyers' letters were sent to those deemed to have made false statements accusing Teo and her husband of profiteering and corruption.

The accusations are related to the development of the community care facility (CCF) at the Singapore Expo Convention and Exhibition Centre by Surbana Jurong.

Teo said the statements were “untrue, scurrilous and completely baseless”.

She also said in a statement issued through her lawyers on May 20: “On these projects, Surbana Jurong dealt directly with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of National Development (MND).”

The statement added: “Neither my spouse nor I have any involvement with the commissioning of these projects or the monetary transactions.”

Make apology and donation

However, Teo stopped short of suing.

“I understand that I am legally entitled to substantial damages for these serious and baseless allegations," Teo said.

"However, I do not intend to pursue the matter further, or to claim damages, if the allegations are publicly withdrawn, and apologies given.”

She said the two persons also had to make donations: “This has been made clear in my lawyers’ letters. The letters also require the two persons to make a donation of S$1,000 each to the Migrant Workers’ Assistance Fund.”

Background

Multiple posts appeared over the past few days since the weekend accusing Teo and Surbana Jurong of profiteering from the Covid-19 outbreak.

Teo’s husband, Teo Eng Cheong, is the chief executive (international) of Surbana Jurong.

Surbana Jurong has since issued a statement on May 19, refuting the allegations.

It said the accusations were “not only untrue, they are disrespectful of our colleagues who have made enormous sacrifices, including putting their health at risk, to deliver the projects under challenging conditions, for the benefit of our community”.

MOH and MND respond

MOH and MND said in a joint statement on May 20 that the government had asked sovereign wealth fund Temasek to help at short notice to set up a CCF for recovering patients of Covid-19 and those with mild or no symptoms.

Temasek did so as it had the necessary resources through its subsidiaries.

MOH and MND added that the Ministry of Manpower and Teo were not involved in the selection of Surbana Jurong.

Neither did any of the parties participate in the development of the Singapore Expo CCF.

They were also not involved in the process of managing the costs of the project, MOH and MND said.